Every
parent leaves something behind for their children to remember them by. Lily
Evans didn’t know, when she left her diary behind, that it would help her son
into knowing her and himself...or did she? Disclaimer:
I own nothing, I’m just borrowing for entertainment purposes, personal and non,
and am making no money out of it. Don’t sue, all I own are professional
designing markers and they only cost about ? 4.16 and they’re not worth because
the ink runs out right away, and the chargers cost an arm and a leg. Just...don’t
sue, it’s not worth it. Warning:
Dispite the fact that the prologue (and a good hefty chunk of this chapter) is
rather comical, the fanfiction itself is made up of tortured, angst-filled
romances (I’m not kidding), and we’ll start to see that at the end of this
chapter. Don’t worry, though, I’m a professional when it comes to comic relief
(that’s the whole purpose of the first years, even though in this chapter they
don’t show up). Anyway,
I hope you enjoy as much as the prologue. I loved the reviews! Thank you all so
very, very, much. And
now: on with the fic. Harry
Potter and the Knowledge of a Mother Chapter
1: The Time Capsule Since
there were never any lessons the fist few days at Hogwarts—just to let everyone
get used to the castle again—the first day after their arrival the seventh year
Gryffindors, led by a very proud Head Girl by the name of Hermione Granger
(could it have been anyone else?), were making their way to the courtyard just
as they had been told the previous night by McGonagall—who was patiently
waiting for them there. Again,
Harry felt his scar tingling the same way he’d felt the night before, and
slowly, gingerly, he placed his fingers on it. It had never felt that way
before…it felt…pleasant. And nothing that had ever concerned his scar had been
pleasant. Hermione
was looking at him rather strangely—she was worried, he could tell—so he gave
her a reassuring half smirk, dropped his hand, and turned his attention to the
stern looking teacher. McGonagall, after making sure that they were all there,
quickly said with a barely concealed smile of anticipation, “Very well, follow
me!” She turned on her heels wordlessly and began to pace with long strides
towards the lake. The
students followed. The
walk was long as they kept on siding on the lakeside. It felt like they had
nearly made the round of the blasted far-too-big mass of water, knowing quite
well that they had barely even begun to circle it, until finally McGonagall
started to head a little off to the left into a clearing filled with very
unusual looking stones. Some were the size of fists, others seemed boulders.
They were all mostly covered in brownish moss, and far too regularly shaped to
have been non magical. They were also placed at very regular intervals, telling
that someone had placed them there. The
smell itself that was in the clearing told of misty magical memories and
dreams, and the fact that the entire area was enveloped in a very light white
fog only added to the atmosphere. Then,
interrupting everyone’s observations of the grounds, McGonagall spoke again.
“Very well, Gryffindors,” and with this she pulled something out of her
pockets. “Can anyone tell me what this is?” And she opened her palms to show a
very tiny creature that seemed covered in the same moss as the stones. To Harry
it looked like it had the body of a seal, but without the teeth, and the
“limbs”—or whatever they were for they looked like oval paddles—were a lot
larger and so thin that they seemed transparent. As he made these assertions
the tiny creature spread large wings—when open the complete width was about the
length of an outstretched arm—and lifted itself in the air. The wings were just
as thin as the limbs, but with the sunlight streaming through them—for they
were almost completely see-through as well—showed a rippling of very small
muscles and vessels. What
a fascinating little creature that was. Harry smiled when the thing opened its
mouth and let out a tiny, but very high-pitched, sound that to him seemed like
the word “Dig!” Hermione’s
hand, of course, shot up. “Yes,
Miss Granger?” “It’s
a Diggorinta,” Hermione replied. “It is a magical creature that can assert the
character of a person, or group of people, and find the object—which is usually
specified by the owner—that most would suit, and brings it to light by
digging.” “Very
good, Miss Granger, ten points,” McGonagall complimented. “Now,” she began to
explain the point to their excursion, “the Diggorinta is very powerful, albeit
small, and it never fails its purpose. Its purpose today is to help us find the
stone that would most suit you young Gryffindors,” and at this a lot of
eyebrows shot up. Why would they need a stone? “This
place, as a matter of fact, is the Gryffindors’ Forever Remember Garden.
Beneath each stone there are the history, actions, and thoughts of another
already graduated Gryffindor class such as yours,” and with this she signaled
the Diggorinta to do it’s work with a nod, to which the creature replied with
another very happy “Dig!” With
a few flaps of moss colored wings and sounds of “Dig!” the Diggorinta flew
swiftly around the students, pausing for a second before each one of them, and
moving on. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were the last three left, and the creature
went about them in the same ordered mentioned, pausing in front of Hermione
longer than it had before Ron, and in front of Harry far longer than it had
with anyone else put together. Finally
it let out a particularly loud and enthusiastic “Dig!” before turning around
and floating to a particularly large boulder and sitting atop it. After a
second it seemed that the moss from the stone and the Diggorinta’s skin had become
one thing all together, and with a flap of its wings lifted itself and it’s
perch in the air. It detached itself from the stone, leaving it hovering about
two meters in the air, and flew beneath it. Flying
so low that it’s wings touched the ground, the Diggorinta drew a circle in the
moss, of the same shape and size as the boulder, and lifted itself back up, all
the while flapping its limbs frantically like a dog digging in the yard to hide
his bone. As it did this, the wet ground seemed to split, and…something that
was beneath began to push itself out. And
then, after the earth beneath their feet had stopped shaking, something that
resembled an old battered trunk laid hovering only centimeters from their feet. “Oh,
how strange it would be this one,” McGonagall commented. Harry
wondered what she meant, but Hermione managed to answer that when she said,
“Harry! Look!” while pointing flabbergasted at the lock of the trunk. There,
before his eyes, in rusty gold, was engraved an image of a wolf standing in front
of a stag and a big dog, neck stretched toward the sky as if it were howling.
Very small, at the wolf’s feet was a mouse, and behind the animals, a cloaked
shadow, and an eye, which—as Harry had studied—represented a Seer. This
couldn’t have been…could it? “Now,
I don’t know what has been put into this trunk, but I do know that the class
that left it here had some very creative students, and I’m sure everyone of you
has heard of them at least once,” she announced, and then looked straight at
Harry and his two friends. “The Marauders.” Despite
the fact that Harry had already guessed it, hearing the words had made it
settle in a completely different way. In that trunk there were things that had
to do with Wormtail, the blasted traitor, and Moony and Padfoot, that since his
third year had been surrogate fathers to him, and then…of Prongs, his real
father, and of his mother. Hearing
McGonagall say that was like having the wind knocked out of him. Thousands of
thoughts ran through his mind. What did
they leave? What’s it going to tell me? What if I find out more about my
parents? His mind asked in trepidation. Could this possibly help him into
knowing the mother and father that he was never permitted to have? Remus and
Sirius never told him much about them or their years in Hogwarts, and he
guessed that—even after sixteen years—the loss of two close friends, the
betrayal of another, and far too many years of lies, deceit and pain were still
too fresh in their minds. Harry had never pressed them. But
maybe here was their chance—for some reason Hermione and Ron were included—to
find out about people that Harry had only seen in his dreams and in the mirror
of Erised. But then again, was it? After all. in the trunk there were probably
just a stack of moving pictures and a yearbook (at least, that’s what Muggles
put in time capsules, and he guessed wizards weren’t very different), but then
again, these were the Marauders. Oh,
boy, he was confused! As always, he looked to Hermione for help and
reassurance. And it looked like her thoughts were running along the same track
as his. Though she’d never come out and said it, he knew
her—always-overactive—curiosity toward his parents. She was fascinated by the
stories told of them, foggy as they were. Especially his mother, Lily,
fascinated her. And that was understandable, for they had so many things in
common. Beautiful, smart, capable witches born of Muggles, both Head Girls,
that had found themselves trapped in friendships—which were probably more harm
than good—with men who seemed unable to stay out of trouble, and caught in
battles against the Dark Lord. Actually,
Harry had always been very interested in knowing about his mother very much as
well. For some reason, he could imagine what his father had been like—maybe
only because of the strong physical resemblance that he held to him—but his
mother to him was a mystery. Each time he thought of her, he found himself
imagining her quite like Hermione, but that was probably simply because of the
fact that Hermione was, by far, the strongest girl he had ever—and would
probably ever—meet and, of course, because of the strong feelings he had
towards her. He liked the thought of the two women of his life being so
alike…but were they? He
had to stop his train of thought because McGonagall had walked up to the trunk,
pointed her wand at it, and called out “Alohomora!” and…nothing happened. A
deep frown appeared between her eyebrows, and she began ticking off other
unlocking spells, all to no avail. After about ten tries, she huffed loudly and
openly gawked at the offending thing. Whispers
were spreading throughout the students. “Well,
these were the Marauders, they must have put a load full of charms and spells.” “It’s
going to take us days to get this thing open, if not more!” “Do
you think there’s anything dangerous in there?” “Of
course there is!” Thoughts
like these were spreading like a wildfire. Harry
looked at Ron, then at Hermione, and he found them wearing the same knowing
smirk on their faces that he had. His own growing wider he raised his hand and
called, “Professor?” Surprised,
McGonagall snapped her eyes away from the mad trunk to look at her student. “Yes,
Mr. Potter?” “May
I try?” Again, a deep furrow appeared between the teacher’s eyebrows. Not
knowing what else to try, she gave him the clear. Harry pulled his wand out of
his robes, pointed it at the case at his feet, and pronounced loud and clear
the words. “I solemnly swear I’m up to no good!” Laughter
spread through the rest of the students and chuckled sentences along the lines
of “Harry’s gone mad to say that in front of McGonagall” were whispered behind
hands. That
was until, of course, the case started shaking wildly still in midair, while
shooting sparks from the engraved golden seal. Loud gasps were heard all around,
and everyone—but Harry, Ron, and Hermione—backed several paces away from the
maddened object. Whistles
started to accompany the sparks, which were actually starting to resemble
miniature butterfly fireworks. The students were backing up even more, and, finally,
when the sparks had become blinding, the whistling a high pitched squeal that
made everyone grind their teeth, and the trunk itself had started to spin
faster and faster around until it had made a whirlwind around itself had the
Diggorinta desperately trying to keep safe in midair until… It
stopped. Everything. Suddenly. It
stopped. No
more sparks, or whistling, or spinning, or shaking. It had gone back to the
same position as it had before Harry had pronounced the words. “Harry,
what did you do?” He heard Seamus ask terrified, but the trio turned to give
him a look of utter confidence before going back to study the object of their
friends’ horrors. And
then, again, it began to shake, and finally, with a loud bursting sound the lid
opened and fireworks began to shoot high into the air in a very stunning
pyrotechnics performance, not unlike lava erupting from the Vesuvius when it
wiped out Pompeii. None of them were harmful, for they shot very high into the
air and burst into colorful magical shapes, especially of animals, that
actually moved before fading out. Many represented a mouse doing various
things, running, hitting the knot on the Whomping Willow, scurrying about and
such, and Harry felt his hands clench until they drew blood as he thought of the
person that had—obviously—charmed the candles. He
felt Hermione’s hand on his shoulders and he unconsciously relaxed his grip and
his shoulders. Then
there was a wolf, howling at the moon, biting himself to keep from hurting
others, sleeping, and simply walking in the streets of Hogsmeade. A dog, large
and gruff, howling, barking, running. And finally, a big, wonderful deer
stomping through the forest, drinking from the lake, and then, the last
exploding candle represented the beautiful stag nuzzling into a girl’s neck.
Lily’s neck, and in turn she kissed the spot above its nose with a soundless
giggle, and smiled at the people that, mesmerized, had been watching the show
from below. And,
just when everyone thought the show was over, another burst came from the
trunk, and one last image showed in the sky. A sign that read, “Mischief is
done!” Harry
smiled. Everyone
behind him now stood with his or her jaws touching the mossy ground. “You
can come closer now,” Hermione said as she bent over to look at the contained
items of the trunk. Slowly, apprehensively, the students—along with
McGonagall—did. “This
was definitely Potter’s idea,” the professor mumbled. Everyone heard. “What?” “Well,
anything related to fireworks and Filibusters was always his doing. He would
come up with the idea, and Pettigrew would brew the potions,” she answered.
Strangely, some students thought, her tone was quite bitter when she spoke
Wormtail’s name. Cautiously,
the rest of the group made its way to the trunk, only to be hit in full by a
blue wrapped bundle of giggles that flew at all of their stomachs with the
force of an atomic missile. “Hey
what—!” “What
the bloody hell?!” (This was Ron.) “What
IS that?” And
the bundle spoke. “I’m
Cicciobello!” “What’s
a bloody Chee-cho-bel-loh?” Ron asked with a skeptical eyebrow at the bundle. “I’M
Cicciobello!” the bundle repeated offended, and this time, everyone noticed how
very childish and high-pitched the voice was. But…hey! This was a baby! “No,
not him!” McGonagall exclaimed. “Hi-ya
prof! It’s been a while!” The ‘Cicciobello’ cried, and, in salutation, went
over, pulled down his pants, sitting on the woman’s hat, and—with a rather
large ‘splat’—left a little scented gift there. Then, giggling madly, pulled
its pants back up and flew high into the air. McGonagall was in fumes while the
students were rolling on the ground laughing. “It’s
a doll,” Hermione said, as she looked up. And she was right. The bundle was, in
truth a very likely imitation of a live baby, even in size. As she said this,
the baby turned to look at her, and then to Ron and Harry. At the sight of the
last, it gasped loudly and flew straight into Harry’s gut, knocking the wind
out of him, all the while letting out loud cries of “Dada!” “DADA?!”
The class asked collectively. “Dada?”
Harry repeated as well. “Dada!”
The Cicciobello exclaimed again. It took Harry quite a while to extricate the
deviled doll off of him, but when he finally did, it looked at him again in the
face, and gasped. “You’re not daddy!” “DADDY?”
The class collectively screeched again. “Uh…no.
Sorry. I’m not daddy,” Harry replied nervously. The doll seemed to deflate. “No
Cicciobello, he’s not your daddy,” McGonagall told him. “Then…who
is he?” “Your
daddy’s son,” she replied in a completely matter-of-factly manner. The
doll—again—gasped. It seemed to do that a lot. “Dada had a son?” McGonagall
nodded. Again Cicciobello looked at Harry, this time, seeming to decipher him.
And then, suddenly, it shouted out, “Brother!” and, again, threw itself at his
gut. “BROTHER?!”
when was the class going to stop screeching like that? “Oh,
brother!” Harry sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Cicciobello
giggled. “Very
well Gryffindors, let’s see…what else these students placed in this,”
McGonagall said, her voice losing enthusiasm with every word that she got out. And
they did just that. Although the rest of the contents of the trunk weren’t as
exciting as the fireworks, or the possessed Cicciobello, they found them all
rather interesting. There were, as expected, loads of moving pictures—most of
them representing interesting pranks that the Marauders had pulled on
Slytherins (Snape’s younger face was quite reoccurring)—and a yearbook, telling
of each of the Gryffindors that had graduated that year. In addition, though,
there were loads of different—seemingly—non-hazardous things (such as cards,
and handkerchiefs, and nail polish--?--), all attached to a little instruction
handbook. Marauders’ inventions obviously. They
spent the good part of three hours all sitting, laughing, and enjoying the
creativity of students that had attended the school far before they were even
born, and, when it finally seemed there were no more interesting objects in the
trunk, Lavender looked into it and saw something that almost everyone had
written off as of no importance. Picking it up she asked Professor McGonagall
what it was about. Piqued
by the girl’s question, the teacher walked over, and took in her hands the
thick leather bound book that was held out to her. At first her eyes went wide,
and then she opened to the front page, as though to check out something that
she knew was true but couldn’t quite have been possible. “This can’t be,” she
mumbled. But
it was. She
stared at whatever must have been written on that front page for quite a long
time. The only thing that had managed to keep her from drowning into the thick
book was the voice of Lavender Brown asking, “What is it, Professor?” At this
the addressed woman took in a sharp breath and looked up from the mesmerizing
page, and looked at the girl before her, although not seeing her. Another
second went by, and finally she spoke. “Mr.
Potter, come here,” she ordered, not a note of expression in her voice. Harry,
who was, at that moment, reading the instructions, which had come with the nail
polish along with Ron, looked up confused, and shrugging, went over to see what
his teacher wanted. Again, McGonagall stared at him for a second. She seemed to
be sizing him, trying to decide if he was ready for whatever it was that she
was about to present him with. This
only served to make the young man even more confused. “Yes,
professor?” He asked as an encouragement. Finally
the teacher came to her decision, and extended her hand out to him, holding the
book for him to take. Even more confused, Harry took the professed book, and
held it, keeping his boggled gaze onto the woman. “Open to the first page,” she
instructed. Looking down, he did just that. He opened the hard front cover to
the first page which had only three words scribbled onto it in a pretty,
orderly, legible handwriting, which had obviously belonged to a young girl. At
first, he stared. The words were there, ink on paper, black on white, but they
just weren’t registering. And then, when they did, the book slipped from his
numb fingers, and hit the ground with a muted ‘thump’. Hermione,
which had walked over in curiosity, knit her eyebrows before kneeling and
picking up the fallen item. She opened to the same page that had caused so much
staring, and, reading the words, finally understood why they had been so
overwhelmed by those three simple words. Actually,
they weren’t even words. They
were a name. There,
clear as day, stood the name: Lily Marianne Evans. Her
mouth open, and her eyes clouded, she, too, looked at McGonagall. “This
isn’t…is it?” She asked. “Yes,
Miss Granger,” the professor confirmed. “It’s Mrs. Potter’s Hogwarts diary,”
she explained, and, turning to look at Harry, told him, even cleared, “This is
your mother’s diary.” And
silence fell between them. “Uhm…professor?”
Again, Lavender snapped everyone out of their thoughts. “Yes,
Miss Brown?” “I
think it’s time to head back to the castle,” she ventured uncertainly. This
seemed to bring McGonagall to her usual self. “Yes, quite right,” and saying
that she turned toward the rest of her Gryffindors. “Very well everyone, put
everything you found back into the trunk. Don’t worry, it will be kept in your
Head Girl’s room, so ask her, and you will access it all you want with her
permission. You may discuss what to put in your own memory case amongst
yourselves. Your case will be buried within the last week of school. Now, we
will make our return to the castle for lunch,” she explained, and then turned
back to Harry. “You will not be required to put the book back in the case, Mr.
Potter,” she told him with a barely concealed smile. “If that diary has a
place, it is in your hands,” she finished, and began to head back to Hogwarts
with the rest of the Gryffindors following close behind. On
the walk back, Harry, walking at the very end of the line, found himself
clutching the book to his heart with one arm, and Hermione’s fingers (she was
walking very closely on his right) with his hand. °*° At
lunch, the seventh years (of all houses) had secluded themselves from their younger
counterparts to plan well what to put in their own time capsules. Hermione, as
Head Girl, along with the two seventh year prefects, had the assignment of
writing everything down, keeping record, and basically organizing the whole
thing. As her peers shot off all kinds of different ideas, she diligently
reported everything onto a fresh piece of parchment, completely ignoring her
lunch, although, Harry could tell, her mind wasn’t with it. He
guessed it was with his mother’s diary, much like his own was. As much as he
tried to bring himself to participate, he simply couldn’t. So instead, he
listened to Ron tick off all kinds of absurdities, demonstrating to the world
that he was, in fact, Fred and George Weasley’s little brother. Nearly
everything that the redhead had suggested had been enthusiastically approved
and placed on the list, which, outside of his creative implications, held the
same usual things, such as yearbooks, and pictures, reports of major events and
a hall of fame (which, everyone was sure, would mostly be composed of Ronald
Weasley, Hermione Lynn Granger, and Harry James Potter). As
Ron was ranting about placing carnivorous frogs into the case to come out in
much the same manner that the fireworks had, McGonagall tapped her goblet with
her spoon, getting the attention of the entire school. Dumbledore, it seemed,
had to make an announcement. The
hall went mostly quiet, so the aged wizard spoke. “It
has been brought to my attention that our Quidditch field, is, unfortunately,
not going to be available for the next several months. We have a, rather
growing and annoying, infestation of carnivourous beetlesquash. Now,
thankfully, they have limited themselves to our Quidditch field, and we’ve been
able to prevent them from expanding their territory, but, since we do not wish
to have our Quidditch teams and spectators eaten alive, we will have to
postpone any games until after Christmas, and possibly more,” at this he
stopped, waiting for the outraged mass of students to calm down. Ron
could be heard throughout the castle with his shouts of “What? But you can’t! I
mean it’s Quidditch! What’s school without Quidditch?” Only Hermione’s strong
slap to the back of his head managed to stop his ranting, making him, instead,
yelp in pain. “Yes,
Mr. Weasley. School would be a much less interesting place without Quidditch,
which is why I said postponed. The games won’t be canceled, but will, once they
start, be performed all in a much shorter period of time, and later in the
year. You will still hold your practices like you regularly would, just not
inside the Quidditch field. The head of your house will tell you where your
team will practice, and I would advice you, Mr. Weasley, to take this as an
advantage, for, now, you have all the time you want on your own training ground,
which, you won’t be sharing with other teams. That’ll be all,” Dumbledore
explained, and with this sat back down in a manner that told that there
wouldn’t be any more arguing over the topic. Ron,
who had been Gryffindor Keeper since fifth, and Caftain since sixth, and was,
all around the most Quidditch obsessed person left in the wake of Oliver Wood,
was, still, outraged. “Who cares if we can train all you want? They’ll probably
put us in the courtyard where everybody can see us and study our moves! What
would be the point of practice then?” He began to spew forth all questions of
the sort, and continued, and continued, not even realizing that Professor
McGonagall was behind him when he moved on to speak of her. “And how could
McGonagall allow this!? I mean, wasn’t she supposed to be the biggest Quidditch
supporting teacher of the school? I can’t believe she’d let this happen! How—?”
He was finally interrupted by said teacher’s very, very, stern voice. “Mr.
Weasley!” Suddenly,
Ron stopped, paled, gulped, and slowly turned at the sound of the
higher-than-usual-pitch that McGonagall had used pronouncing his name. “Y--?”
He began, but, realizing that his voice was far too squeaky, cleared his throat
and tried again. “Yes?” “I
just came over to inform you of which grounds you will be allowed to use as
practice fields,” she said sternly. Of course, Ron should have expected this,
as he was Captain, and therefore, the one that should have been informed. Still
rather peeved looking, McGonagall stood so that she was eyelevel with the
redhead and whispered so that only he, Harry, and Hermione could hear. “The
Gryffindor Forever Remeber Garden,” she revealed in a very secretive manner. Hermione
gasped. “But wasn’t that supposed to stay secret until seventh year for
everybody? Outside of Ron and Harry, all the others are sixth year and below,”
she protested. “Yes,
but they don’t need to know what its name is or what it’s for until they reach
seventh, do they?” She asked mischieviously, and they all could guess the
teacher liked to keep secrets. “However, it is a perfect location, for it can’t
be seen from any part of the castle, since it is hidden by several charms, and
it’s secluded and hard to find. There, you will be able to practice all you
want with no interruptions, and very little possibility of being spied on,” she
explained, and, deciding she’d said enough, stood back up straight, and marched
back to her place at the faculty’s table. Ron
was extatic and couldn’t shut up about it for the rest of the evening. Harry
and Hermione were both quiet, not listening to their blabbering friend,
completely absorbed in thoughts of Lily Evans’ diary, and whatever it could
possible bare to them. °*° It
was late, and, as Hermione made the last round of the school, checking if
everything was alright, she couldn’t manage to keep her thoughts from wandering
to the thick, still in exceptional state diary that had been found not even 24
hours before. Moslty,
when everyone heard of what it was, they all said, “Great! This way you’ll find
out more ways to fend off You-Know-Who!” But she knew very well that Harry, as
much as she, was more concered with what the woman might have been like, what
she thought, what she said, how she lived at Hogwarts and how she lived at all. Hermione
had always been fascinated by the idea of her. She,
having been raised by wonderful loving parents all her life, had no idea what
it might have been like without them at all, not even knowing what they were
like, what they smelt like, how it would feel to come down to breakfast in the
morning and hearing “Goodmorning, Harry,” or something of the sort. She knew
very well that his aunt Petunia had probably never wished him a ‘goodmorning’
in his entire life. How can Harry be so
wonderful when he’s been raised by those self centered barbarians?
She asked herself as she whispered the password to the Fat Lady. Maybe, if she
could read that diary, she could find out what his parents had been like. Find
out if just being related to them made him what he was, or if he was just like
that of his own nature. Even
though she was Head Girl she’d asked to be able to stay in the Gryffidor tower,
so she had been showed a portrait that would have led her, from the girl’s
dorm, directly to her rooms, and she much preferred to use those. She felt at
home there, and the Head Girl-Boy tower was so desolate. As
she was about to reach the stairs that would bring her to the Gryffindor
dormitories she stopped upon noticing that someone had been sitting at the foot
of the overstuffed couch in front of the hearth. She didn’t need to closer
inspect the person, for nobody else in Gryffindor could have such unruly
pitchblack hair, and those broad shoulders and lanky figure. “Harry,”
she whispered as to not jolt him out of his thoughts while making her way
around the couch. “What are you still doing here?” She asked as her hands found
her hips, but dispite the fact that she stood in her lecturing pose, her voice
held absolutely no reprimand. She
just watched him as he turned his head slowly to look up at her, noticing how
he was slumping, more than sitting, on the carpet covering the cold surface of
the floor. His mother’s diary lay unopened on his lap. Dropping her arms at her
sides with a heavy sigh, she sat on the couch next to him, her calves brushing
his arm, putting a hand on his mess of hair, gently scraping his scalp in a
reassuring manner. “What are you still doing here?” She reapeated softly, worry
and uncertainty clear, now, in her voice. “Couldn’t
sleep,” he mumbled expressionlessly, but she saw clearly how his hands clutched
even tighter the book between his hands. “Are
you scared of it?” She asked, still quietly, for breaking the comfortable,
conspirative silence seemed like a crime to her. Harry
seemed to contemplate the question for a second. “Would it be stupid?” He asked
finally. Hermione
shook her head. “No, I could understand it if you were,” she reassured him.
“You’ve never truly known her, Harry. Even if you wanted to, you never had a
chance to find out what she was like, and, in a way, that always gave you a
chance to make up your own mind about her,” Hermione explained. “Would
it be bad if I said I was afraid that she didn’t live up to my expactations?”
He asked again. He looked like a small child which was afraid to say that he
liked to fantasize because scared of adults reactions. “No,”
she replied, fully meaning it. “I’d be scared, too,” she continued, “I’ve
somewhat an idea of her, too, but Harry, this is your mother. No matter what, I
don’t think you could ever bring yourself to be disappointed in her, even when
she’d different from what you expect,” she finished. “Would
you--?” He began, but stopped himself. He looked to be debating in his own head
whether or not asking the next question was appropriate. Oh, come on, Harry! This is Hermione! The worst thing she could do is
say ‘No’. And she he asked. “Would you mind...reading it out loud for me?”
He asked nervously, and then, almost as though he had to justify his question, added,
“Maybe, with a girl’s voice I’d get more of an idea.” He
was so vulnerable at that moment, afraid that she would say ‘no’ and leave him
alone in a journey in which her company was absolutely necessary (at least she
hoped), that she felt the tell-tale stinging behind her eyes. “I’d love to,”
she replied quietly, and extended her hand out to take the diary, and slowly,
apprehensively, Harry gave it to her. He
didn’t move to get closer or change position to hear better. For some reason,
he preferred to stay as he was, the flames in the fireplace reflected in his
spectacles and warming away the anxiety that he’d worked up during the day. All
he did, was lean his head over slightly so that it rested against her knee.
He’d always wished that he could touch Hermione the same way Ron did, like the way
he’d laid back to back with her at lunch, but for some reason, to Harry, the
small touches like this were already so overwhelming, that anything more would
be dangerous to their platonic relationship. He felt her hands scrape his scalp
soothingly again in a comforting manner, and closed his eyes at the touch. They’d
laid like that for a while before Hermione stopped stalling and opened to the
first page of the diary. She realized that her hands were trembling. She was
nervous. Over the years she’d, in some way, come to idolize this woman, for the
way that she’d stayed close to James throughout the tough times, kept the
Marauders’ secrets, and sacrificed her life for that of the boy—man—that sat
there with his head resting on her knee!
How could she not see this woman as a goddess, for—had it not been for
her—Harry might not even be here, and she would have been hopelessly alone.
Even her friendship with Ron had come about because of him. She owed him so
much, and loved him so much, that, even the image of his mother had become holy
to her. Clearing
her voice she began out loud with the date. August 23rd, Hello, my name is Lily Evans, I’m going to be eleven
soon, and have recently found out that...I’m a Witch! Well, I always knew I was
different, but a WITCH! I have to admit that was pretty exciting. Finding out I
mean. Just two days ago, a pretty, big, brown owl swooped in the window,
dropped a letter on top of the milk jug, and flew right out. My sister Petunia
began to scream her head off, but I’d already known that something would have
happened that morning. You see, well, not many people besides my parents know
about this, but, ever since I was little, I would get this feelings sometimes.
Even visions once in a while. Of the future, the present happening somewhere
else, or the past. I never told anyone, because, well...it’s not normal to
feel these things, and, even if my parents were actually proud of it (they said
it made me even more special) almost everyone else, especially Petunia, thinks
it’s scary. Anyway, that morning I felt like something wonderful
would happen, something that would change my life forever, bring me to a place
where I truly belonged. And while I said this to my mom as she put the bacon on
my breakfast place, I had no idea how true that was. When mom read out loud the
letter that had been sent to me, telling me that I’d been excepted to the
‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ I thought my heart was going to
burst. I really WAS going to find a place in which I belonged. Of course, I have friends here, but they always seemed
detached. I think they’re afraid of some of the things that I made happen a
couple of times when mad. Once, when I was eight, at my birthday party, Kiana
Jenkins, from down the street, started making fun of my red hair saying that I
looked like a carrot, and that my eyes looked like the color that swimming
pools turn to when people don’t clean them right. Well, usually I don’t care
when people make fun of my hair, but she was always real mean to me, ever since
I was a kid (probably the reason for why she gets along so magnificently with
Petunia, I’ll bet they just sit together all day talking about how awful I am,
and how they can’t stand me), so I lost my temper with her, and, as if by magic
(and now I know it really WAS magic) she turned puple and an endless stream of
EGGS started to come out of her mouth. Since then, I really didn’t make anything so big happen,
but still, nobody forgot. I’m sure that at Hogwarts there are lots of people
who can do these things, and I won’t feel so weird anymore. Mom and Dad were
real proud, and promised to take me to Diagon Alley (it was suggested in the
letter) for school shopping, and that’s what we did today. It was SO neat! I admit, it took us a real long time to figure
out how to get there. We wondered around London for about three hours before
stumbling onto a bar called ‘The Leaky Couldron’. For some reason, it seemed
just like the place to go for information on how to reach a place where they
sold Magic stuff. The people in there were dressed rather strangely, but they
all seemed to enjoy themselves much. They seemed nice. Well...maybe not at
first, when they all went quiet when seeing us, whispering something like
“Muggles”, but when dad asked how to get to Diagon Alley, the man behind the
counter (his name was Tom) asked if I was to attend Hogwarts. Dad said yes, and
then everybody congratuled me and wished me good luck. Petunia didn’t seem to like it much when he brought us
out back in front of a dead end. All there was in front of us was a brick wall,
and, well...it did seem much like a joke, but then Tom tapped a couple of
bricks, and they all started MOVING! Yes, moving! And they made a passageway
that we crossed. And then it was like being inside a fairy tale. The
street was small, and crooked, and some of the buildings looked like they were
make of cards. Everything was magic! People went around with WANDS! There were
candy shops with the strangest things, like Every-flavor+1 Beans and Chocolate
FROGS, books with pictures that moved, strange creatures walking around, and so
much more that it would take me years to write about. The things that I liked the most were Ollivanders, where
I got my first wand (who would have every thought that I would one day have a
magic WAND! He told me all the descriptions about it, but all I remeber is that
inside there’s a unicorn’s hair, and supposedly unicorns have seer’s powers), a
store that sold everything for a sport called Quidditch, which is played on
BROOMSTICKS! And then there was the animal shop. In there, all the animals
could do something magical! Mom and Dad, bought an owl to keep at home (the
clerk in the store told us that people in the magical world communicate long
distance with owl post), I don’t need one because the school has a lot to let
the students borrow, and for me, they bought a beautiful cat. She’s red with
green colored eyes (like me!), and a fluffy tail and puffy whiskers, she looks
half persian. Petunia said she looks like her legs are crooked and the fur is
mangy, but I think she’s beautiful. But maybe that’s because she’s magical.
Anyway, I named her Rajah (because she always looks everyone from down her
nose, like an exotic queen), and I’m already in love with her. Anyway, it was in Diagon Alley that I bought this diary.
The salesclerk said that it was best if I waited a couple of years before
writing in it, because it’s magical and hard to control, but I liked it too
much, and decided to write in it anyway. You see, I’m afraid that if I don’t
write all the unusually wonderful things that I’m sure are going to happen to
me, I’ll forget them, and I’ll miss out on beautiful memories that could have
been with me but that wouldn’t be. And I hate that thought. But it’s late now, the day has been long (and wonderful),
and it’s time for me to go to bed. But since I know for certain that after all
this excitement I won’t get a wink of sleep, I’m going to pull out one of the
books that Dad bought me for fun (he’s always spoiling me) and read that until
I actually do fall asleep. This book’s called “Hogwarts: A History” and we got
it because, maybe, if I read it, I’ll understand a little more of the place
that I’m about to go into and spend a whole of SEVEN years in. The idea’s scary, but exciting, and I can’t wait. Goodnight. Lily At
that Hermione stopped reading. For a second it was quiet. She’d stopped because
she’d felt that, for both herself and Harry, this night shouldn’t have gone any
further. Even though Lily hadn’t said anything particularly different from what
any other muggle born Hogwarts student might have after having been to Diagon
Alley, it was, in a sense, overwhelming. This
was what Lily had been like at eleven (almost eleven, she corrected herself). A
young girl, full of expactation and anxiety. And power, Hermione added in her mind. To do that thing with the
eggs at the age of eleven was something, and, in addition, Lily has some sort
of seer’s power. Now, it was a widely known fact that Hermione didn’t believe
Trelawny’s codswallop and would have gladly shoved it in her face, but Lily was
different. She was eleven when she wrote this, and didn’t know anything of
Inner Eyes and Divination. But she did have visions. Hermione
believed that there were people capable of sensing things around them. She didn’t
believe that they could be taught however (at least she’d come to believe that
during her third year), especially by a fake like Trelawny. Even if,
apparantly, even that charlatan made a couple of real prophesies every once in
a while. But
that wasn’t the matter at hand. Finally,
she spoke the question. “Are
you disappointed?” Harry
was quiet for a second, and she scraped her nails across his scalp again. She
liked doing that. It almost seemed to her that the affection that she placed in
the little gesture seeped right thruogh to him and warmed him out of his dark
thoughts. Besides, she thought to
herself bitterly, this is probably as
close as I’ll ever get to him. Anyhow, that small sign of incouraged him,
and quietly, almost as though it was a sigh, he whispered the word. “No.” She
smiled down at him, and he turned to grin at her. “She
kind of sounds like you,” he went on, and she raised her eyebrows at him. “You
know, a red cat with crooked legs, ‘Hogwarts: A History,” he jested, and she
threw a pillow at his head, which was still, by the way, comfortably resting on
her knee. She had to push the little voice in her head back as it pointed out
how natural it felt to be like that with him. “Why
you—!” She gasped as he pulled the pillow out of her hands and hit her with it
(although very gently). They
didn’t persue the pillow fight. They just looked at each other for a second.
Hermione wanted to tell him what she knew about Lily’s power, as, for certain,
Harry had paid as little attention to that as possible, and only cared about
the girl’s opinions of Diagon Alley, and life itself, but, then again, it was
best like this. Let him enjoy his mother for what she was. A witch, certainly,
and a powerful one, but a girl above all, and a woman later in life. “Let’s
continue tomorrow,” she decided. Maybe letting him digest what the brief
introduction revealed would be better than hitting him with everything all at
once. “Now it’s late,” she explained, and he nodded. “Okay,”
he agreed, and, before he even realized it and could stop himself, he turned to
face her, stood on his knees so that he was eyelevel with her, and dropped a
soft kiss on her forehead. “Thank you,” he whispered. He had to force himself
not to look at her as he stood. Looking at her would ruin everything.
Whispering a soft goodnight he made his way to the stair that led to the
dormitory, closely followed by Hermione (who was trying desperately to keep her
blushing and her hopes down). They
had both been so absorbed in their thought that neither had noticed how a
certain redheaded male had been listening to the whole exchange from the
beginning and had run to his dorm room scowling before the two would see him. That
night, Harry laid wide awake, thousands of thoughts in his troubled mind as he
remembered his mother, and thought of Hermione. Had he looked over to his best
friend’s bed, he would have seen Ron still awake, and scowling more than he
ever had in his entire life. To
be continued. Author’s
note: Ah, finally, I’m getting into the plot. Oh, and the mob of crazy
stalkers, along with Kevin Creevy didn’t show in this chapter because I didn’t
think they were necessary (and because, for most of the day Harry had kept to
himself trying to decide whether or not to actaully OPEN Lily’s diary), and
besides, for now, the crazed Cicciobello was enough. By the way, after the time
capsule, he ran off to get reacquainted with the castle, and therefore we won’t
know what he’s been up to til next chapter (hehehe, I’m so evil). Anyway,
you know the drill, if you’ve read, review, or mail me at [email protected] for any comments,
criticisms or flames (go ahead and I’ll have a BBQ). Ja Pearl |