The Future Is Now
DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$
A/N: And here’s part 2…
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE FUTURE IS NOW
SATURDAY, JUNE 26 th 1993
They had reassembled in the main room of Harry’s Manor after a break and some refreshments. George /Nicholas reminded them that what was to be discussed would also be covered under the Fidelius Charm he cast earlier and added something he had forgotten to tell them. Specifically, that they would be able to discuss all such secrets amongst themselves and with any others they allowed in on the secret, but they would be unable to discuss the secrets in any context where they might be overheard. For all practical purposes, this might well limit discussions to the Trunk but that was by no means absolutely certain.
“The final bit goes like this,” George /Nicholas announced returning to the secrets. “The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord shall mark him as an equal but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.”
“What is that? Poetry?” Hannah asked.
“If it is, it’s rather awful,” Mrs. Granger commented.
“No,” George replied. “It’s not poetry, or at least that was probably never the intent.”
“A prophecy!” Luna all but exclaimed.
“Even more useless than bad poetry,” Mr. Greengrass muttered although he was loud enough to be heard by everyone present.
George nodded. “It is purported to be a prophecy, if you’re inclined to believe in those things.”
“Purported?” Mr. Granger asked.
“Rubbish,” Mr. Greengrass said. “Everyone knows it’s rubbish.”
“Now David,” Mrs. Greengrass said in a correct tone, “just because you and I believe that to be the case does not make it so, nor does it give us leave to be condescending towards those who believe in that art.”
“No proof to any of it,” Mr. Greengrass groaned.
“That may be the case,” George followed, “and for our purposes I do not expect any of you to accept any validity about or attach any significance in that prophecy simply because it was made. I tend to agree that Divination is mostly useless. I do not, however, discount the possibility that on occasion a prophetic statement might seem accurate. Then again, a broken clock is right twice a day. Divination attempts to clarify that which defies clarification. To accept it on its face is to assume the future can be as fixed and immutable as the past. While there are possible futures that can be discounted as so unlikely as to approach impossibility, there are futures that are all but certain. For example, were I to say that one of us will sneeze without more I dare say that prediction would be spot on. On the other hand, were I to declare that one of you will meet a bear today that would be nothing more than a baseless statement that cannot even qualify as speculation seeing as there are no bears here. There are no bears here, are there?”
“No,” Harry said.
“I will not say Divination is absolute rubbish. There are a rare few who do catch something like a glimpse of a less than certain future event. But the best way to describe those with what appears to others as the gift is that they can see an obscure future event. Ssuch sight may not be of what will happen, only what could happen. Sometimes what could happen does happen. Far more often it does not. That being said, whether you believe there is any validity to that gift or not is not relevant to why I’ve brought it up. Sometimes the prediction of an event becomes far more important than whether the event ever comes to pass or not. The prophecy I stated is not important for what it could mean in the future, rather it’s important for what it means right now and to explain that I ask you not to truly concern yourselves with some future event and interpretation.”
“Prophecy is a dodgy thing which should not be relied upon,” Mary / Perenelle said. “While there are those who can point to evidence to suggest that at least some prophecies come to pass, the truth is not so clear. Prophecies are always somewhat ambiguous and open to a variety of interpretations, even contradictory interpretations. Those that are said to come to pass are not recognized as being true until certain events happen that fit a possible interpretation. Even then it can be argued that the events and prophecy are unrelated and those who suggest the prophecy has been fulfilled are interpreting subsequent events to fit into the prophecy rather than showing there can be no other possibility other than a fulfillment of the prophecy.”
“Even today,” George continued, “we cannot say with any certainty whether this prophecy holds any current validity. While it seems to mention Voldemort, he is hardly the first wizard to have been labeled with the moniker of Dark Lord for that is a label that’s been applied to many dark wizards who drew a following of vassals to them. Before Voldemort, there was Grindelwald for certain. Phineus Nigelus Black was called that - although not by his followers and certainly not to his face. Assuming there is any validity to that prophecy at all, all we can say was the Dark Lord mentioned was not a dead one. For all we know, he did not exist yet.
“We know even less about the One. Even if we assume the Dark Lord is Voldemort, the One is still an open question. It is somewhat easy to say that Harry here is the One, but as we said if this was a valid prophecy, its validity can only be determined after fulfillment and not before. Assuming it applies to Harry and Voldemort, it can be argued it has been fulfilled. After all, most believe that Voldemort died that night twelve years ago hence he was vanquished…”
“But the scar,” Ginny said. “That’s a mark, isn’t it?”
“And Harry was born at the end of July,” Hannah added.
“Two obvious facts, I concede,” George said. “But there is the problem with them. Prophecies never state the obvious. ‘Mark’ may be a form of recognition. It may be the One is the Dark Lord’s top Lieutenant or designated successor. The seventh month need not be July. It could be the seventh month following an event of significance that can’t be defined until such event occurs or until after the prophecy is fulfilled. It could also mean the One was born premature or conceived before his parents married. There are plenty of completely plausible interpretations that suggest Harry cannot be the One. This is the problem with Prophecies. Until they are fulfilled, they can be interpreted in incalculable ways which is why they are kept secret.”
“They are?” several asked.
“Indeed. Whenever the Department of Mysteries becomes aware of a Prophecy, it is secreted away. Usually, all memories of it are erased. It would not do to allow people to act on a Prophecy since there is no way of knowing what they are acting upon. Unfortunately, the Department of Mysteries dropped the ball on this one.”
“Oh?”
“As often as not, the Seer who made the prophecy has no memory of it. This is especially true if his or her gift is that of what is known as an Oracle; one whose inspiration occurs while awake and is immediately spoken. There is another manifestation of the gift where the vision occurs in vivid dreams and these are usually remembered by the dreamer. This prophecy was made by an Oracle, and not a particularly prolific once apparently. It was spoken to another and that other eventually came to the attention of the Department of Mysteries. Normally, the Department would create a memory copy of the Prophecy and then place it under a Charm that makes the Fidelius look like a Tickling Charm. The whole country could know of the prophecy before, but once the spell was cast no one would.
“This case was different.”
“How?”
“Because the Department did not do what it always does. While the Prophecy was duly recorded, the spell to prevent it from being used - to prevent people from acting upon what they believed it to mean - was never cast. The witness to the prophetic vision prevented sequestration of the knowledge, arguably so he could act upon what he believed it meant.”
“Dumbledore,” Harry growled.
“Exactly,” George replied. “As Chief Warlock he prevented sequestration. It should be noted this was a couple of months before Harry was born. There was a war going on and the wrong side was winning. As Chief Warlock he somehow managed to convince the Department that the ordinary rules should not be applied and they weren’t. One can argue that much of what has followed in regards to Harry flows from that point.
“Dumbledore obviously wanted to know who the One was. The One could be the ultimate weapon; the only way to finally defeat Voldemort. He arguably wanted control of that weapon. He wanted to develop it so that it could achieve its purpose without interfering with anything else; specifically without upsetting his plans for the Wizarding World. He needed to learn who the One was and then gain control over the One’s life. At the end of July, 1981, two boys were born who appeared to fit the bill. Both were children of Aurors or Hit Wizards who had on at least three occasions thwarted Voldemort’s followers and their plans. Both couples actually fought Voldemort on those occasions - six separate ones, three per couple, but one must guess whether that means ‘defied’. ‘Defied’ suggest disobey as well. Those couples' could hardly have disobeyed the man, except that they lived and it’s doubtful he wanted that. Kind of hard to be all that scary and all powerful if you can’t kill the people you meant to kill. Both couples were loosely allied with Dumbledore. In ordinary times, they were political rivals on many issues. But they were tied to him because they all believed that Voldemort must be defeated at all cost and, whatever else he may be, Dumbledore is both a powerful and influential wizard and was seen as the only one who could stand toe to toe with Voldemort and not lose.
“At first, nothing happened as far as we know. Harry’s family did not go into hiding immediately or at least not any more so than they were already. We know this because of those contracts. Harry’s parents could not have set those up if they were truly hiding. So we know it was some months before they did. We’re pretty sure we know why they went into hiding in the end…”
“But Lily came over every day,” Mrs. Granger said. “She and Harry and Luna were at our house with Hermione the day it happened.”
“As Muggles, you were off the radar as it were. Many witches and wizards disappeared into the Muggle World at that time because the enemy could not find them there - or at least it was far more difficult to do so. As long as they refrained from detectable forms of magic, a witch or wizard can hide from the magical world that way and most on this side of the fence would be unable to locate them. But by that time, things had changed and Harry’s family was in hiding. The Potter estates, despite their protections, were known to many and one never knew at that time whether a trusted friend was working for the wrong side. They moved to a safe house several months before the end, but some months after Harry was born.”
“Why?” Harry asked. “I mean, if we were safe before then, what changed?”
“Dumbledore learned he was not the only one who knew of the Prophecy. A spy of Voldemort’s had overheard at least part of it and word eventually got back to Dumbledore that Voldemort was planning to deal with the situation. He was planning to wipe out the two families who might be the families of the One.”
“Who was the other?” Harry asked.
“Neville Longbottom was born about three hours before you were, Harry,” Mary said. “He was born just before midnight on July 30th, 1980 as the seventh month died as it were.”
“So it could be Neville?”
“The information from the other timeline says it’s you, Harry. In that timeline, you kill Voldemort eventually.”
“About five years from now,” George added. “Voldemort planned to kill you and Neville. He went after you first, although why he did so is anyone’s guess.”
“This doesn’t explain my family,” Ginny said. “Harry told me that contract was to gain control over his family’s political stuff.”
“Two birds with one stone?” Hermione suggested.
“A good analogy,” George agreed. “Harry was the only survivor that night and at that time few knew what had happened. Few knew that House Potter had been all but wiped out and that the sole survivor was barely a toddler. Only five people knew this: Dumbledore, Peter Pettigrew who was a close friend of Harry’s parents, Sirius Black who was another close friend of the family and is said to have also betrayed them to Voldemort, Severus Snape who was a Death Eater and a spy working for Dumbledore and Rubius Hagrid who was called in to remove Harry from the place. Black was involved in an incident a few days later, one which left a dozen Muggles dead and scores more injured and Pettigrew apparently blown to pieces. He was chucked into Azkaban Prison before you could say Quidditch. Snape said nothing as far as we know. Had Hagrid not been involved at all, it’s a fair bet that the Wizarding World might well have believed Harry perished as well. But…”
“Hagrid can’t keep secrets,” Harry smirked.
“Exactly. We think Dumbledore placed Harry with his relatives in part to control the One and in part to control what would happen after the One succeeded. We think Dumbledore believes it highly likely that the One cannot survive the final battle. We believe he interprets the final clause of the prophecy to mean that the One will die killing the Dark Lord. We know from the other timeline this is not the case. But, we don’t think Dumbledore is counting on that outcome.
“We believe he placed Harry with his relatives to keep him ignorant of this World as long as possible. He would’ve grown up knowing about the Potter Family. He did not. He grew up in a family where he learned a value in not being noticed and where he strove not to be noticed. We guess Dumbledore knew this - although perhaps not the details of Harry’s former upbringing - and counted on that. He took advantage of circumstances to control what would happen after Voldemort was gone. The last thing he could possibly have wanted was the scion of his major political rival wanting to exercise his clout as the wizard who won the war if that scion was raised to become a true Potter.
“By hiding Harry away, Harry arrived with no family legacy. He was a Potter in name, but not upbringing thus Dumbledore could mold his political outlook to be similar to his own and not that of House Potter. But again, Dumbledore also thought Harry was likely to die in the end. The Line had to be preserved. Were it not, the Potter seats and votes would be parsed out to new holders - new hereditary lines and Dumbledore could not be certain that he could control who gained those votes. Were Harry to have a son before snuffing it - or even a daughter - the seat would remain Potter. With the marriage contract making Harry the Vassal of Dumbledore’s Vassal, he would then be able to ensure his own ideas for the postwar world could not be effectively countered.”
“So this is about politics?” Mr. Granger asked.
“It’s always about politics in a way,” George replied. “Voldemort wants to be emperor or some such. He certainly wants to rule the Wizarding World and possibly all the world. The rest of us would serve him in one capacity or another with Muggle Borns and Muggles at the bottom as little more than slaves. Dumbledore wants a ruling elite. He has no ambitions to enslave Muggle Borns, but does not trust Muggles not to ruin it for everyone. His ruling elite would be the best and brightest witches and wizards - provided they were raised from birth in the Wizarding World. He does not trust Muggle ideas at all. The rest of government would be open to anyone, but they would be merely administrators enforcing the will of the council of the wise. The Potters wanted a more inclusive government. Unlike the far left, they did not want to throw everything out and begin anew. They wanted something similar to the British government, without the hereditary monarchy. This meant that there would be an elected legislative body with broad powers. The current Wizengamot would survive, but with significantly reduced authority. Their definition of citizen would include Muggle Borns, Squibs - children born into magical families without magical ability - and people like you and your wife, Mr. Granger, Muggles with a clear connection to our world. Any citizen could stand for election to their equivalent House of Commons and serve in any position within the Ministry. As you can imagine, these three visions of government are mutually incompatible. Dumbledore and Voldemort wish to impose their vision upon us one way or another. The Potters and their faction would prefer it to be the will of the majority. If Harry were raised as a true Potter and then defeated Voldemort - and lived to tell the tale as it were - that faction would gain a huge political advantage. It would be more than enough to ensure Dumbeldore and his faction’s ideas would be relegated to the dustbin of history. Dumbledore does not wish to be a historical footnote.”
“If he can’t have his vision,” Mary said, “we believe he’d rather live with the status quo and leave it to his followers to move our world towards his vision. He wants Voldemort defeated and Voledmorts ideas reviled. He never wants that way of thinking to exist again. But, he wants far more than that. The death of Harry’s parents gave him an opportunity to control the outcome of victory to advance his agenda at the expense of all others. In the other timeline, his plan ultimately failed. No effort was made to deal with the followers of Voldemort and their ideas. Dumbledore to this day feels that punishing them is counter-productive. He speaks of redemption and forgiveness forgetting these are personal things and should not be governmental policy. A victim can afford to forgive their attacker and survive, society cannot.”
There was a long pause where no one spoke. It only broke when everyone heard a soft snore and saw that the two youngest Greengrass sisters were asleep.
“Let’s define the secret so that I can complete the Charm,” George stated. “First, it is secret that my wife and I are Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. Second, it is secret that we and Harry, Luna and Hermione have and will receive information from a future timeline with the intent that we will use this information to avoid that future. Third, the information from any future memory is part of the secret except to the extent it needs to be revealed to change things. The source of that information shall remain a part of the secret. Finally, our knowledge of the prophecy that has motivated the acts of Dumbledore and Voldemort is part of the secret. So mote it be!”
There was another pause. “Harry…?” George began.
“Oh right!” Harry said remembering something. “Ginny, as Secret Keeper you are not to reveal the secrets to anyone else without my expressed permission.”
Ginny nodded and the conversation turned to other things.
Wednesday, July 7 th , 1993
The morning following the Secret, six young people climbed the ladder of the Granger trunk and out into the foyer of the Granger home just outside Slough. Hermione led them around the house as they would be spending time here later in the summer. It was a large home for a family of three. It had a very welcoming feel to it, so unlike the Dursleys but was neat and uncluttered as well unlike the Burrow which were the only other two homes Harry had ever seen. While they were given the tour, the Grangers were finishing their packing and packing two Range Rovers. Their trunk was reconfigured in a way by one of the Potter elves to appear to be filled with girls clothes and soon packed into one of the vehicles. After all, it would look odd for a family on holiday to arrive in France without any luggage for the young people. There were also some suitcases with clothes as well. However, were they to pass through magical customs these clothes would revert to their true form. They were nothing more than rags or bolts of cloth magically transformed into what looked like attire. After all, the young people would be returning to the Manor every night and as such there was no reason to actually bring changes of real clothes with them.
They used two range rovers because neither was large enough to seat eight people comfortably. These were the Grangers personal vehicles and Mrs. Granger would drive one with three of the children and Mr. Granger the other with the rest. They had an early lunch and then piled into the two Range Rovers for the first day of their trip. Both vehicles drove past Windsor Castle on their way east even though it meant a detour south of the motorway. They did not have to do so, but the Grangers had decided to drive past it for no other reason than aside from their daughter none of the others had seen it. Hannah and Luna had never even been in a car before and Ginny only on the rare occasions when her dad decided to take out their old Ford Anglia, which now was puttering around the Forbidden Forest outside Hogwarts in Scotland. Their drive took them around London on the motorway and then further east to Dover. In both cars, the children were told about the “Chunnel” or Channel Tunnel that would soon connect England with France, but it was not open yet and besides they felt it better to ride a ferry to Calais rather than travel through a hole in the ground, at least for ones first trip to the Continent. They arrived in Calais late at night having had a supper of sorts on the ferry. The day after and they were in Rouen from which they would spend the first week or so of the trip driving around Normandy.
They had arrived in Paris three days ago in real time and would remain there for several more. Everyone was fining something about Paris they liked even if the people seemed a little rude. Yesterday had been the second “down” day of the trip where there were no plans to visit this place or that and Daphne and Hannah had spent the day back in England with their families thanks to the access trunks. This was with the clear understanding of the others that they would not see something new without them. Every night, the six people would say goodnight to the Grangers, head to their “room” wherever they were staying and climb down the trunk into the Manor. Sometimes they had breakfast there, but more often they had it with the Grangers wherever they were in France. Today was a day where they had planned to have breakfast in the Trunk. It seemed the Grangers appreciated their doing that from time to time allowing the adult a lie in - or whatever else they might do with the extra time. Thus far, these “Trunk” breakfasts were where they had time to glance at the magical papers and read whatever mail had arrived during their travels. Surprisingly, the one thing they had not done since leaving was activate Time Compression but no one was complaining.
Higgins handed Harry three copies of the Daily Prophet. Because they did not know what would uncap their future memories but knew it might be anything and might occur at any time and because they only had one subscription to the paper, their routine on these mornings was to pass the paper between Harry, Hermione and Luna first and then the others would share. So far, nothing had caught Harry’s attention. He figured whatever it was would probably be a front page item as he never had much use for the paper. The truth was before Hogwarts he had never read any newspaper and the only reason he had even started was Ron lent him his own copies when the mail arrived. He seldom read more than the front page. Nothing in the first two papers caught his attention. He was not surprised because so far nothing had. He nearly spilled his tea when he looked below the fold of the third edition which would be this morning’s edition.
It was a picture of the Weasley family. There was not much of an article. It mentioned who they were and how Mrs. Weasley had somehow won something called “The Daily Prophet Galleon Draw” and the family was using at least some of the proceeds to visit Bill who was working as a Grngotts curse breaker in Egypt. The family was standing with what was most likely a pyramid in the background and waving to the camera. It was not the recent windfall that had truly caught Harry’s attention. Something told him this paper - or at least the front page of it - was important.
“Blimey!” he exclaimed.
“Something the matter, Harry?” Hannah asked. She was the only one not chewing on something at that particular moment.
“The - the paper,” he began.
“Memory uncap?” Luna asked.
“N-no. Well, maybe. This is important for some reason, but I… Well aside from a slight flash of déjà vu and a strong feeling, I don’t have any memories that weren’t there before.” He handed the paper to Hermione and she gasped when she saw the picture.
“It’s important for some reason although I don’t think it has anything to do with the article or whatnot,” she said after a moment. She handed it to Luna.
“It’s nice to see they’re having a fun summer,” she said.
“That’s it?” Hermione asked.
Luna shrugged. “No French Word thing and it doesn’t seem to trigger anything,” she replied. “Maybe this is something that only you two experienced?”
“It’s possible,” Hermione said. “We don’t know what or how we sent stuff back. Could be a warning or something?”
“I think it’s part of whatever we’re trying to tell ourselves,” Harry said. “A piece to the puzzle, but not the whole puzzle. Since there’s a missing bit, all we have is a strong feeling that this is important.”
“Rather odd,” Luna said. “Why would the Weasley’s holiday be important at all?”
“Don’t know,” Harry said as Ginny exclaimed “What?” The paper was handed to Ginny and Hermione explained it for Hannah and Daphne’s benefit.
After a few moments Daphne turned to Ginny. “Are you upset by this?” she asked cautiously.
“I don’t see why this is important,” Ginny said.
“No, I meant being here and not there.”
“I’d’ve loved to see Bill,” Ginny admitted. “But I doubt they’re spending loads of time with him. He’s there for work and not a holiday after all. I’m here in France with my new family and… well according to Bill, unless you’re a curse breaker once you’ve seen one Egyptian tomb, you’ve seen them all mostly and there’s not much else to do there. A few days and you’ve seen the magical Suk and then it’s nothing but strange food, sand and flies. It’s much nicer here, I think. Besides, last place I’d want to be is in and old tomb with mummies and Fred and George anywhere nearby. Who knows what they might try for a prank. What are we doing today?”
“Eifel Tower and stuff,” Hannah said.
“As long as it’s not raining, I’d rather be with you guys. I do miss Bill, though.”
“What do you want to do with the paper?” Daphne asked Harry.
“It’s going to our research table in the library. It might not mean much right now, but who knows. I’d rather not bin it.”
Thursday, July 22 nd 1993.
The trip had taken them now to the coast of the Mediterranean. The Grangers had managed to let a small villa - or so they had been told, atop a rise on the coast. Below them was a beach, and beyond the sea. For all of them it had been a wonderful summer. They had seen a lot of France, spent days in Paris and visited all sorts of places before this final stop for a week or so of enjoying the coast. True, much of what they had seen had been of more interest to others than to Harry. Then again, he had never travelled much at all before and certainly not to see places or any such thing so he really had not thought about going to a place for the sights. He enjoyed this trip because it was a trip and more importantly because of the people he was with. He thought it odd that now that he had travelled for pleasure he had seen far more of France than any other place on Earth. He was English and barely knew his own country.
But, despite any such misgivings, and they were more musings than misgivings, he was enjoying himself. Hermione had picked up all sorts of travel guides including magical ones during the several days between her leaving school and meeting and bonding with Harry and it was her itinerary they had followed since arriving. This villa was her parent’s idea, having crossed off many but by no means all of the places from her list. Fortunately, her enthusiasm for sights had not worn thin on the others but Harry sensed they were glad to be here and not off to see another chateau or seek out another obscure magical district or some such. None of them were really complaining. It was a wonderful trip and each had found things about it that they really would remember. For Harry, it was the trip itself and his growing collection of photographs with “his girls” in places he had never even known about before.
They had arrived at the Villa the night before and were hoping to spend the days on the beach. Well, everyone except Hermione was hoping for that. She seemed comparatively indifferent to the idea but not totally unenthusiastic. Luna seemed the most excited once she was told that the bathing attire could be limited to bottoms only. But their first day seemed dashed as they were told it was raining. They decided to gather in the Trunk for breakfast and would probably spend the day here rather than in real France as the Trunk weather was not as unpleasant at the moment. Hermione was eager for this chance as she was hinting she wanted to rewrite her summer paper for History of Magic to include some things she had learned on this trip.
As they were spending the morning in the Trunk, it was as good a time as any to read their mail and such. Harry had received a grand total of one letter - assuming one did not include a handful of business letters from Gringotts. Not long after the article in the Daily Prophet about the Weasley’s windfall, he had received a short note from Ron about it. Hermione had received a similar note: too similar it seemed. She guessed he had written one note then copied it and changed the names. She would have felt insulted if it were not for the fact that it seemed so much like Ron to do it that way. Luna had received about two letters a week from her father and looked forward to them. Hannah got a short letter every other day when she could not visit her mother as she was always sending notes about what she was doing and seeing. For Daphne, it was mostly just letters from her sisters. Ginny had received two letters from Bill and that was it. She was not as disappointed as she thought she would be. She recalled that Harry had said there would be no letters from her parents until August and she was glad for her letters from Bill.
Harry picked up that morning’s Daily Prophet and saw the headline and photograph when it happened. What he could only describe as memories of events that had never happened flooded into his mind. He had no idea how long the images, events and ideas took to emerge. It seemed it took hours and yet no time at all. But the looks on the other’s faces when he finally looked away from the paper told him that whatever had just happened had not gone unnoticed.
“You okay, Harry?” Hannah asked.
“What happened?” Ginny added.
“Something happen?” Hermione asked. She had been going over some notes.
“It was a memory thing, wasn’t it?” Luna observed.
“Guess I know what a memory uncapping is like,” Harry said handing the paper to Hermione. This was only the second time anything had happened since that morning he first met the Flamels and this was far different from the first. As soon as Hermione looked at the paper Harry knew why the others were looking at him the way they were. Her eyes seemed to roll back in her head and while she did not fall over, she looked like she would at any second. She seemed to shiver for a minute or so and he could not tell if she was even breathing. Finally the fit or whatever t was ended and she looked at the others.
“My word,” she said, “that was intense.” The paper was handed to Luna.
“Well,” she said without having such a fit, “I wonder if this means the Hobgoblins will get back together.”
“Hobgoblins?” Hermione asked.
“Oh yes,” she said. “They were a very popular group. But their lead singer and main songwriter’s been away for ages. Seems Stubby Boardman was in Azkaban for some reason and now that he’s out maybe the group will reform.”
“Stubby Boardman?” a few voices asked.
“You didn’t have any new memories?” Harry asked.
“Why would I have new memories?” Luna replied. “Oh! You did?”
Harry nodded as did Hermione.
“Why would Stubby Boardman trigger such a thing?” Luna asked.
“It’s not whoever that is,” Hermione said trying not to huff but failing miserably, “it’s Sirius Black.”
“Sirius Black, Stubby Boardman, same thing,” Luna said. “Daddy’s pretty certain as they disappeared at the same time and it’s not like there’s a lot of wizards disappearing on any given day. Besides, they do look alike…”
“Sirius Black?” Hannah asked. “Wasn’t he somehow involved in what happened with your parents?”
“Seem to recall the Flamels saying something like that,” Daphne agreed. “What’s the article?”
Luna laid the paper out in front of the others. The banner headline read: “Mass Murderer Escapes!”
“This can’t be good,” Ginny began.
“Hermione?” Harry asked.
“The other paper,” she practically finished and ran off in the direction of the Library.
“ In a shocking revelation,” Daphne read, “Retired Master Auror Alistor "Madeye” Moody and special consultant to the Head of DMLE announced today that convicted mass Murderer Sirius Black is missing from Azkaban Prison. Black had been incarcerated for his commission of numerous heinous crimes and was serving a life sentence. Guards at the prison reported that they found his cell empty yesterday. It cannot be confirmed for certain when he was last accounted for although the Ministry has confirmed he was there as recently as a week ago. No prisoner has ever gone missing from that prison in the past and it is feared he has escaped and is now on the loose.
“‘ Assuming he managed to get off the island,” Moody said. “All wands accounted for and the floo was not used. Only way to the mainland would be to swim, and that would be a fool’s errand. My guess is he’s dead but without a body it’s prudent to assume he somehow managed to abscond and is ashore somewhere.”
An international manhunt has been ordered and sources speaking on condition of anonymity have suggested that the Muggle government has been informed of the escape of this infamous terrorist and follower of You-Know-Who.
Black, believed to be one of You-Know-Who’s top Lieutenants during that period of unpleasantness is known to be from one of the darkest of families (for details on House Black, see page 4). He is known to have conspired to murder and thereby eliminate House Potter in 1981, having failed only in that there was one survivor of You-Know-Who’s attack that fateful night: The-Boy-Who-Lived. Whereas many of You-Know-Who’s gave up with little resistance to authorities following his death, Black continued his predations until taken down by two of our Ministry’s finest (For details on Aurors John Dawlish and Megan Stiltson see page 6.) Regretfully, their brave capture of the psychopath could not prevent the death of a dozen muggles and one brave wizard who tried to stop him: Peter Pettigrew…"
Hermione returned with the other paper. “What a load of tripe,” she said with disgust.
“Everyone knows,” Hannah began.
“No, everyone believes,” Harry corrected. “Everyone believes he killed all those people and was what the paper says he was. And everyone is wrong!”
“The memory?” Daphne asked.
Harry nodded. “Sirius Orion Black is Heir Apparent to the Ancient and Noble House of Black, a fact I can assume they got right. Ginny told me how that family is considered darker than night. Bit of an exaggeration seeing as I’m next in line after him and of the six of us only Hannah and Hermione are not potential members of that clan. But, this proves nothing. Sirius was also my Godfather…”
Only Luna and Hermione did not gasp. One could argue that there was little that surprised Luna or that she never really reacted to surprises. Harry knew Hermione knew the truth.
“For real?” Hannah asked. “That’s one of those memories?”
“For real,” Harry said. “And as you know as a magical godfather…”
“He could not have betrayed your family,” Daphne finished.
“Well, maybe he could,” Hannah said. “The oath can be limited. But he could not take any action that could place his godson at risk and inviting You-Know-Who over would do just that. Surely someone knew this?”
“My memory does not have that information,” Harry said.
“It’s possible some have forgotten,” Hermione conceded. “There are two who probably did know. One forgot just how powerful that oath is. If Sirius had betrayed Harry as people think, the betrayal would have killed him. And the other is the real traitor, who’s picture is in this paper,” she added placing the paper with the picture of the Weasley family on the table before them. “The real Traitor is right there!” she said pointing.
“Don’t be daft!” Ginny exclaimed. “That’s Ron! I admit he can be a bit thick, but he wasn’t much older than Harry when that happened. Somehow I doubt Voldemort was recruiting wizards still in their nappies.”
“I don’t mean Ron,” Hermione said. “Look more closely.”
“But it’s just Ron and Scabbers!”
“What’s a Scabbers?” Hannah asked.
“That’s Scabbers,” Ginny added pointing at the picture of Ron. “It’s his pet. Well, it was Percy’s pet first but Percy gave it to Ron when Mum bought Percy a post owl for making Prefect…”
“Eeew!” Daphne exclaimed. “Your brothers has a pet rat? Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?”
“I do,” Ginny said. “Thing gives me the creeps on top of doing its business wherever and whenever it wants. Hexed Ron but good last summer when I found Scabbers stuff in my bed…”
“That’s so wrong!”
“Okay,” Hannah said, “so what’s a rat got to do with any of this?”
“It’s not a rat,” Harry began.
“Sure looks like one,” Daphne countered.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Hermione said cryptically. “How old is Scabbers Ginny?”
“Don’t know,” she replied. “He’s been Percy’s pet for as long as I can remember at least ‘til he became Ron’s pet.”
“I think you will find it’s been a pet since 1982 at the latest,” Harry said.
“Okay, that’s quite impossible,” Luna said. “Rats don’t live anywhere near half as long!” When everyone looked at her she continued. “What? My Daddy is a naturalist even if most think he’s off a bit. Rats are common place so he taught me about them. They’re lucky to live a couple of years in the wild before something eats them. In captivity, they might live more than four but not much more…”
“Could be a magical rat,” Ginny suggested.
“I’m not aware of a magical rat-like creature,” Luna replied. “Then again, despite his masterful work ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’ I doubt Newt Scamander truly cataloged every one there could be.”
“Might explain why Ron and Percy were allowed to bring it to Hogwarts, if it was magical of course,” Ginny added.
“Oh it’s magical, alright,” Harry said, “just not the way any of you are thinking. It’s an animagus.”
“I’ve never heard of such a creature,” Luna began.
“It’s a wizard?” Daphne asked.
Harry nodded.
“An Animagus is a branch of transfiguration that when mastered allows a witch or wizard to assume the form of an animal at will and retain that form indefinitely,” Hermione commented. “We all know of one…”
“McGonagall,” Ginny gasped. “That explains the cat thing!”
Hermione nodded. “As I understand it, it’s really hard to do and dangerous until you’ve mastered it.”
“That and the Ministry requires you to register if you do,” Hannah added. “But then how could it be one? Surely word would’ve gotten out about that form. Surely someone would’ve been suspicious.”
“But you assume that everyone is law abiding,” Harry said. “The memory that uncapped tells me of three who managed it who for whatever reason found the law… inconvenient.”
“Who would find a law inconvenient?” Hannah asked.
“Those inclined to break it,” Daphne said. “Or those who’d rather it be a secret for some reason or…”
“Okay, I get it. So who is it and why does it matter?”
“Okay,” Harry said, “so answer this one: how could Sirius Black escape from Azkaban and the paper got that one right, he escaped and is somewhere in Britain as we speak.”
“He can’t! No one’s escaped before! It’s impossible,” Hannah replied.
“Just ‘cause it’s never happened before doesn’t make it impossible. Harry and I have had memories of this awaken or whatever. Sirius Black has escaped.”
“I suppose if he had help it might be possible. One of the guards…”
“Plausible but unlikely,” Hermione said. “Why now? Why after all these years?” When no one answered she continued. “He’s been there for almost a dozen years. A dozen years with dementors tends to drive people a little crazy.”
“More than a little,” Harry snorted. “But all this assumes that there was a human in that cell the whole time.”
“So you’re saying he’s been loose for ages? But how could they’ve missed that?” Hannah countered.
“They didn’t miss a thing until very, very recently. Black was there, he just was not human most of the time…”
“Animagus!”
“Exactly. A big, black dog to be exact.”
“But how come they didn't… he never registered?”
“And apparently no one thought to ask when he was brought in,” Harry said. “As a dog, the dementors had little effect on him. Probably would’ve had none if his coat was shaggier. When humans were around - guards and the like - he was human but as soon as they left he was a dog. I won’t say he’s completely sane right now, but any mental instability cannot be blamed on the dememtors.
“From what I’ve read in that paper, it is what is commonly believed about Black and what happened back then. It’s also wrong. We already said he’s my Godfather so the fact that he lives at all shows he could not have betrayed me. The betrayal would’ve killed him regardless of the outcome so the fact I somehow survived that night is not important. We learned earlier that my parents were in a safe house under a Fidelius Charm when it happened and that only the Secret Keeper could reveal that information. Thus, the Secret Keeper had to have revealed my family to Voldemort. The paper probably reports that Black was our Secret Keeper. He wasn’t. He was the most obvious choice, which is why he was not it. The Secret Keeper was another who also happened to be an unregistered animagus…”
“Scabbers?” Ginny asked.
Harry nodded. “Known in his human form as Peter Pettigrew.”
“But… ,” Hannah began. “Never mind.”
“What?”
“He’s said to have been killed.”
“All they found was a finger,” Harry agreed. “But that doesn’t mean a thing. Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. When Voldemort was defeated, he scampered. Black knew Pettigrew had betrayed my family and cornered him. Pettigrew cut off his finger - that was all they ever found of him - made a scene catching the attention of a couple of low level Aurors, cast a spell creating the explosion that killed all those muggles, changed into a rat during the chaos and scampered away. The Aurors thought it was Black and he wound up in prison.”
“You’ve been dancing around, Harry,” Luna said. “Just tell us the story.”
Harry sighed. The truth was he was having a little fun and it was not as if there was anything else to do seeing as it was raining on the French coast. “Sirius Black is the last of the direct line of Blacks. His Grandfater Arcturus was the last Head of House and Arcturus Black’s grandfather Phinean Nigelus is also my Great-Great grandfather and Daphne, Luna and Ginny’s Great-great Great Grandfather. Enough of the family history. Sirius’s parents were Pure-blood supremacists who supported the rubbish Voldemort spouted. Sirius did not and left them for good when he was sixteen. He went to live with his best friend and his family. That best friend was my Dad.
“While at school, Sirius, their supposed friend Peter Pettigrew and my Dad learned to become Animagus. My dad was a stag. And before you ask, no. None of them ever registered their ability and I can’t tell you why ‘cause as far as I know I never asked in that other timeline. Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper back then and he was the reason my parents are dead. When Black learned of this, he went after Pettigrew and cornered him. Already told you how that turned out. He never was tried for anything. Supposedly, he confessed to it all but my guess is he did not.”
“So he was imprisoned for nothing?” Hannah asked.
“Well, never convicted,” Harry shrugged. “Everyone believes he did the terrible things it says in the paper. He never denied it at the time, but never was really given much of a chance to deny it either. Pettigrew went to the Weasleys. We learned he did this ‘cause he figured if there was any news about Voldemort, he’d hear it there and he was certain his fellow Death Eaters would kill him if he ever revealed himself 'cause he got their Dark Lord killed. Sirius was in Azkaban until very recently. It seems it never crossed his mind to escape before and he apparently thought of no reason to do so. It’s that first paper that set him off…”
“How?” Ginny asked.
“He saw Scabbers. He read the article and knew Ron was at Hogwarts and was my roommate…”
“Doesn’t say that,” Daphne noted.
“No. But it does say Ron’s in Gryffindor with Harry Potter and Sirius would know what year I should be in. Seeing that picture motivated his escape.”
“How’d he see it?” Hannah asked. “I doubt the prisoners take the paper.”
“Fudge gave it to him,” Harry replied.
“Fudge?” Daphne asked. “You mean the Minister for Magic Fudge?”
Harry nodded. “Fudge was at the prison for some reason probably within a day or so of that paper’s publication. Sirius was in human form and asked for the paper so he could do the crossword and Fudge gave it to him.”
“How’d he escape?”
“When?” Hannah asked.
“He didn’t escape right away, but I think it was at least a few days ago,” Hermione replied. “I don’t think they went public with this until they were very, very certain he was gone.”
“He escaped when the dementors were out,” Harry continued. “They never bothered him nor noticed him when he was a dog so as a dog he somehow got out of his cell. Apparently, the humans are not out and about when the dementors are so it was easy for him to get out of the prison. How he crossed to the shore, I don’t know. I guess he swam but it’s just a guess.”
“Why’d he escape,” Hannah asked.
“Don’t know if that article says so, but the common belief is or will be to find me and finished what he supposedly started. The real reason is Pettigrew. Pettigrew will be at Hogwarts this fall and he plans to get Pettigrew. In my memory, he fails.” There was a sadness in his tone.
“Fudge is going mental about this,” Hermione said. “Our school’ll be surrounded by dementors this fall in the hopes of catching Black. Fudge is not interested in what happened. He wants Black caught and put to death - no trial, nothing. In my memory and Harry’s as well, nothing will change his mind. If he gets Black, Black dies.”
“And Black does die,” Harry said. “Not ‘cause of Fudge. He dies about three years from now fighting Death Eaters. His life is that of a fugitive running from a death sentence. He spends his time in hiding which is not much better than rotting in Azkaban. I know that haunted me for ages afterwards…”
“I wondered why this might be important,” Luna said.
“Oh?” many asked.
“Well, at first this memory seems much ado about nothing, doesn’t it? What does this have to do with why the memories were sent back? The man dies long, long before we have to really change anything, right? Yet it was important enough to send back. My guess is the death of Sirius Black affected Harry in such a way that he accepted certain things he should have questioned simply because it was too painful not to. If we can get Black and somehow keep him from that life and that death…”
“I can’t say if that’s it or not, Luna. But I think some of the messages are to change things we want changed not because they lead to the mess we’re really trying to stop, but because they were senseless or something. But the problem remains. Black’s not going to get any justice from Fudge and no one will believe that what’s said in this paper is such a pack of lies to question it.”
“So?” Ginny said. “Seems to me you catch Pettigrew and it would be hard for anyone to continue to believe the official version right? We know where Pettigrew is as well.”
“We need both of them I should think,” Daphne said. “Catching Pettigrew might bring question to why Black was in prison, but it won’t do much else. There’s still the issue of his escape and all.”
“What good would it do to catch either of them?” Hannah asked. “The Ministry’ll just take them away and do whatever it is they want. Something tells me that they won’t care about the truth now. They’re embarrassed by the escape and to then have it come out they’ve had the wrong man all along? Wouldn’t put it past them to see the whole thing hushed up.”
“If it’s left to the Ministry, you’re probably right,” Daphne said but her smile said she was up to something. “However, the Ministry is bound by the Wizengamot Charter.”
“Doubt the Wizengamot will be much better,” Hermione said. “My memories don’t know, but I doubt Dumbledore was totally ignorant of the truth. After all, if Black was Harry’s Godfather…”
“Black would at the very least be Harry’s magical Guardian even in the absence of a Will,” Daphne agreed. “Being locked away prevented that allowing Dumbledore to do what he did. Freeing Black would undo everything. My guess is as Chief Warlock Dumbledore’s as keen on seeing Sirius prevented from gaining his freedom as Fudge is. But the Wizengamot is also bound by the Charter and to violate certain provisions of the Charter… well, not even the Great Albus Dumbledore could avoid losing everything were he to try. There is a way. Granted, it hasn’t been used in ages - maybe even in centuries - but I’m pretty sure it’s something that’ll work. We still need Black and Pettigrew - certainly Black - but…”
“Pettigrew may be easy,” Ginny said. “You did say I might be able to visit my family later this summer.”
“I did. Don’t know how your family’s trip affects that but…”
“Bill wrote me and said they’d be home by the 24th of August latest. I could visit then… and knick the rat. Ron hardly keeps that rat confined after all. He’d probably think the thing scampered and Mum’s always on about it getting loose. Only reason Ron make any effort at all is Mum reminding him that outside the house there’re plenty of things - owls, hawks and such - that see a rat as dinner. Doubt Ron’d even suspect the rat was nicked. Probably just think he didn’t lock the cage or something and the rat got out and…”
“And how do we get Black?” Hannah asked. “Even if he’s out to protect Harry, I doubt he’s going to simply walk up and ask himself in for tea.”
“There’s a chance before school,” Harry said. “It didn’t seem important, but my memory includes something that happened later this summer. I had a real row with my relatives…”
“No surprise there,” Hermione said.
Harry nodded. “Well, I ran out on them. I was sitting in a play park not far from their place. It was after dark and I guess I was trying to figure where to go. I’m pretty sure I saw him.”
“Black?”
Harry nodded.
“When’s this going to happen?”
“Sometime after my birthday. No more than a week after. I seem to recall spending close to a month living at the Leaky Cauldron and that was after the play park. I don’t think I need to re-enact the row with my relatives. I think I just need to be in that park just after dark and we might be able to grab him.”
“How?”
“First, we need to know whatever this thing is that Daphne seems to think will keep the Ministry and Dumbledore from mucking things up. After that, I’m open to ideas.”
“Better than sitting around all day seeing as it’s raining,” Daphne said.
“Might be a good idea for Hannah to see her Mum,” Hermione thought.
“Why?” Hannah asked.
“You could go to the Ministry and see what you can find on Black. It might be nothing. Then again it might be useful.”
Hannah nodded. “I’ll see if she’s available.”
“Since I’m not going anywhere, do I have to wear clothes today?” Luna asked.