H. Potter and the order of the phoenix AUDIOBOOK part 14

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#harrypotter  #audiobook #harrypotterfan  Narrator: James Dobinson

Transcript

00:00:00Chapter 37 The Lost Prophecy

00:00:04Harry's feet hit solid ground, his knees buckled a little, and the golden wizard's head fell

00:00:09with a resounding clunk to the floor.

00:00:11He looked around and saw that he had arrived in Dumbledore's office.

00:00:14Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the headmaster's absence.

00:00:18The delicate silver instruments stood once more on the spindle-legged tables, puffing

00:00:22and whirring serenely.

00:00:24The portraits of the headmasters and headmistresses were snoozing in their frames, heads lolling

00:00:29back in armchairs or against the edge of the picture.

00:00:32Harry looked through the window.

00:00:33There was a cool line of pale green along the horizon.

00:00:36Dawn was approaching.

00:00:37The silence and the stillness, broken only by the occasional grunt or snuffle of a sleeping

00:00:42portrait, was unbearable to him.

00:00:44If his surroundings could have reflected the feelings inside him, the pictures would have

00:00:47been screaming in pain.

00:00:49He walked around the quiet, beautiful office, breathing quickly, trying not to think.

00:00:53But he had to think.

00:00:54There was no escape.

00:00:55It was his fault Sirius had died.

00:00:57It was all his fault.

00:00:59If he, Harry, had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick, if he had not

00:01:03been so convinced that what he had been seeing in his dream was real, if he had only been

00:01:07able to open his mind to the possibility that Voldemort was, as Hermione had said, banking

00:01:12on Harry's love of playing the hero, it was unbearable.

00:01:16He would not think about it.

00:01:18He could not stand it.

00:01:19There was a terrible hollow inside him he did not want to feel or examine, a dark hole

00:01:23where Sirius had been, where Sirius had vanished.

00:01:26He did not want to have to be alone with that great, silent space.

00:01:29He could not stand it.

00:01:31A picture behind him gave a particularly loud, grunting snore, and a cool voice said,

00:01:36Ah!

00:01:37Harry Potter!

00:01:38Phineas Nigellus gave a long yawn, stretching his arms as he watched Harry with shrewd,

00:01:44narrow eyes.

00:01:45And what brings you here in the early hours of the morning?

00:01:48said Phineas, eventually.

00:01:49The office is supposed to be barred to all but the rightful headmaster, or has Dumbledore

00:01:53sent you here?

00:01:54Oh, don't tell me!

00:01:57He gave another shuddering yawn, another message for my worthless great-grandson.

00:02:01Harry could not speak.

00:02:02Phineas Nigellus did not know that Sirius was dead, but Harry could not tell him.

00:02:07To say it aloud would be to make it final, absolute, irretrievable.

00:02:11A few more of the portraits had stirred now.

00:02:14Terror of being interrogated made Harry stride across the room and seize the doorknob.

00:02:18He would not turn.

00:02:19He was shut in.

00:02:20A hope this means, said the corpulent red-nosed wizard who hung on the wall behind the headmaster's

00:02:26desk, that Dumbledore will soon be back among us.

00:02:29Harry turned.

00:02:30The wizard was eyeing him with great interest.

00:02:32Harry nodded.

00:02:33He tugged again on the doorknob behind his back, but it remained immovable.

00:02:36Oh, good, said the wizard.

00:02:38It has been very dull without him, very dull indeed.

00:02:41He settled himself on the throne-like chair on which he had been painted, and smiled benignly

00:02:46upon Harry.

00:02:47Dumbledore thinks very highly of you, as I am sure you know, he said comfortably.

00:02:51Oh, yes.

00:02:52Hold you in great esteem.

00:02:55Feel it filling the hole of Harry's chest like some monstrous weighty parasite, now

00:02:59writhed and squirmed.

00:03:01Harry could not stand this.

00:03:02He could not stand being himself any more.

00:03:05He had never felt more trapped inside his own head and body, never wished so intensely

00:03:09that he could be somebody, anybody else.

00:03:11The empty fireplace burst into emerald green flame, making Harry leap away from the door,

00:03:16staring at the man, spinning inside the grate.

00:03:19As Dumbledore's tall form unfolded itself from the fire, the wizards and witches on

00:03:23the surrounding walls jerked awake, many of them giving cries of welcome.

00:03:27Thank you, said Dumbledore softly.

00:03:30He did not look at Harry at first, but walked over to the perch beside the door and withdrew,

00:03:34from an inside pocket of his robes, the tiny, ugly, featherless forks whom he placed gently

00:03:39on the tray of soft ashes beneath the golden post where the full-grown forks usually stood.

00:03:44Well, Harry, said Dumbledore, finally turning away from the baby bird, you will be pleased

00:03:49to hear that none of your fellow-students are going to suffer lasting damage from the

00:03:53night's events.

00:03:55Harry tried to say, good, but no sound came out.

00:03:58It seemed to him that Dumbledore was reminding him of the amount of damage he had caused.

00:04:02Although Dumbledore was for once looking at him directly, and although his expression

00:04:06was kindly rather than accusatory, Harry could not bear to meet his eyes.

00:04:11Madame Pomfrey is patching everybody up, said Dumbledore.

00:04:15Madame Fedora Tonks may need to spend a little time in St Mungo's, but it seems she will

00:04:19make a full recovery.

00:04:21Harry contented himself with nodding at the carpet, which was growing lighter as the sky

00:04:26outside grew paler.

00:04:27He was sure all the portraits around the room were listening eagerly to every word Dumbledore

00:04:32spoke, wondering where Dumbledore and Harry had been and why there had been injuries.

00:04:36I know how you're feeling, Harry, said Dumbledore very quietly.

00:04:41No, you don't, said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and strong.

00:04:45White-hot anger leapt up inside him.

00:04:48Dumbledore knew nothing about his feelings.

00:04:50You see, Dumbledore, said Phineas slyly, never tried to understand the students.

00:04:55They hate it.

00:04:56They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in self-pity, stew in their own.

00:05:00That's enough, Phineas, said Dumbledore.

00:05:03Harry turned his back on Dumbledore and stared determinedly out of the window.

00:05:07He could see the Quidditch Stadium in the distance.

00:05:10Sirius had appeared there once, disguised as a shaggy black dog, so he could watch Harry

00:05:15play.

00:05:16He had probably come to see whether Harry was as good as James had been.

00:05:18Harry had never asked him.

00:05:20There is no shame in what you are feeling, Harry, said Dumbledore's voice.

00:05:25On the contrary, the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.

00:05:30Harry felt the white-hot anger lick his insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling

00:05:35him with a desire to hurt Dumbledore for his calmness and his empty words.

00:05:39My greatest strength, is it? said Harry, his voice shaking as he stared out at the Quidditch

00:05:43Stadium, no longer seeing it.

00:05:45You haven't got a clue.

00:05:47You don't know.

00:05:48What don't I know? asked Dumbledore calmly.

00:05:51It was too much.

00:05:52Harry turned around, shaking with rage.

00:05:53I don't want to talk about how I feel, all right?

00:05:56Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man.

00:05:59This pain is part of being human.

00:06:02Then I don't want to be human, Harry roared, and he seized the delicate silver instrument

00:06:08from the spindle-legged table beside him and flung it across the room.

00:06:12It shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall.

00:06:15Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet

00:06:19said, Really?

00:06:20I don't care, Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunoscope and throwing it into the fireplace.

00:06:25I've had enough.

00:06:26I've seen enough.

00:06:27I want out.

00:06:28I want it to end.

00:06:29I don't care anymore.

00:06:32He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that too.

00:06:35They broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.

00:06:39You do care, said Dumbledore.

00:06:41He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing the office.

00:06:45His expression was calm, almost detached.

00:06:47You care so much, you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.

00:06:51I don't, Harry screamed, so loudly that he felt his throat might tear, and for a second

00:06:56he wanted to rush at Dumbledore and break him too, shatter that calm old face, shake

00:07:01him, hurt him, make him feel some tiny part of the horror inside himself.

00:07:05Oh, yes, you do, said Dumbledore still more calmly.

00:07:09You have now lost your mother, your father, and the closest thing to a parent you have

00:07:13ever known.

00:07:14Of course you care.

00:07:16You don't know how I feel, Harry roared.

00:07:18You, standing there, you!

00:07:21But words were no longer enough.

00:07:22Smashing things was no more help.

00:07:24He wanted to run.

00:07:25He wanted to keep running and never look back.

00:07:27He wanted to be somewhere.

00:07:28He could not see the clear blue eyes staring at him, that hatefully calm old face.

00:07:33He ran to the door, seized the doorknob again, and wrenched at it, but the door would not

00:07:38open.

00:07:39Harry turned back to Dumbledore.

00:07:40Let me out, he said.

00:07:41He was shaking from head to foot.

00:07:43No, said Dumbledore simply.

00:07:45For a few seconds they stared at each other.

00:07:47Let me out, Harry said again.

00:07:50No, Dumbledore repeated.

00:07:52If you don't, if you keep me in here, if you don't let me…

00:07:55By all means continue destroying my possessions, said Dumbledore serenely.

00:07:59I dare say I have too many.

00:08:01He walked around his desk and sat down behind it, watching Harry.

00:08:05Let me out, Harry said yet again, in a voice that was cold and almost as calm as Dumbledore's.

00:08:11Not until I have had my say, said Dumbledore.

00:08:14Do you?

00:08:15Do you think I want to?

00:08:16Do you think I give a…

00:08:17I don't care what you've got to say, Harry roared.

00:08:19I don't want to hear anything you've got to say.

00:08:22You will, said Dumbledore steadily.

00:08:24Because you are not nearly as angry with me as you ought to be.

00:08:28If you are to attack me, as I know you are close to doing, I would like to have thoroughly

00:08:31earned it.

00:08:32What?

00:08:33What are you talking?

00:08:34It is my fault that Sirius died, said Dumbledore clearly.

00:08:39Or should I say, almost entirely my fault.

00:08:41I will not be so arrogant as to claim responsibility for the whole.

00:08:45Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content

00:08:49to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger.

00:08:53Nevertheless, you should never have believed for an instant that there was any necessity

00:08:57for you to go to the Department of Mysteries tonight.

00:09:00If I had been open with you, Harry, as I should have been, you would have known a long time

00:09:05ago that Voldemort might try and lure you to the Department of Mysteries, and you would

00:09:09never have been tricked into going there tonight.

00:09:12And Sirius would not have had to come after you.

00:09:14That blame lies with me, and with me alone.

00:09:17Harry was still standing with his hand on the doorknob, but was unaware of it.

00:09:21He was gazing at Dumbledore, hardly breathing, listening yet barely understanding what he

00:09:25was hearing.

00:09:26Please sit down, said Dumbledore.

00:09:28It was not an order, an order, it was a request.

00:09:32Harry hesitated, then walked slowly across the room now littered with silver cogs and

00:09:36fragments of wood, and took the seat facing Dumbledore's desk.

00:09:40Am I to understand, said Phineas slowly from Harry's left, that my great-great-grandson,

00:09:45the last of the Blacks, is dead?

00:09:47Yes, Phineas, said Dumbledore.

00:09:50I don't believe it, said Phineas brusquely.

00:09:52Harry turned his head in time to see Phineas marching out of his portrait, and knew that

00:09:56he had gone to visit his other painting in Grimauld Place.

00:10:00He would walk, perhaps, from portrait to portrait, calling for Sirius through the house.

00:10:05Harry, I owe you an explanation, said Dumbledore, an explanation of an old man's mistakes, for

00:10:11I see now that what I have done and not done with regard to you bears all the hallmarks

00:10:16of the failings of age.

00:10:18Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels, but old men are guilty if they forget what

00:10:23it was to be young, and I seem to have forgotten lately.

00:10:27The sun was rising properly now, there was a rim of dazzling orange visible over the

00:10:31mountains, and the sky above it was colourless and bright.

00:10:34The light fell upon Dumbledore, upon the silver of his eyebrows and beard, upon the lines

00:10:38gouged deeply into his face.

00:10:40I guessed, fifteen years ago, said Dumbledore, when I saw the scar on your forehead, what

00:10:46it might mean.

00:10:47I guessed that it might be the sign of a connection forged between you and Voldemort.

00:10:52You told me this before, Professor, said Harry bluntly.

00:10:55He did not care about being rude, he did not care about anything very much any more.

00:10:59Yes, said Dumbledore apologetically, yes, but you see, it is necessary to start with

00:11:05your scar, for it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the magical world, that

00:11:10I was correct, and that your scar was giving you warnings when Voldemort was close to you,

00:11:15or else feeling powerful emotion.

00:11:17I know, said Harry wearily, and this ability of yours to detect Voldemort's presence, even

00:11:23when he is disguised, and to know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused, has

00:11:27become more and more pronounced since Voldemort returned to his own body and his full powers.

00:11:33Harry did not bother to nod, he knew all of this already.

00:11:38More recently, said Dumbledore, I became concerned that Voldemort might realise that this connection

00:11:43between you exists.

00:11:45Sure enough, there came a time when you entered so far into his mind and thoughts that he

00:11:49sensed your presence.

00:11:51I am speaking, of course, of the night when you witnessed the attack on Mr. Weasley.

00:11:55Yeah, Snape told me, Harry muttered.

00:11:58Professor Snape, Harry, Dumbledore corrected him quietly.

00:12:01But did you not wonder why it was not I who explained this to you?

00:12:06Why I did not teach you Occulomancy?

00:12:08Why I had not so much as looked at you for months?

00:12:12Harry looked up.

00:12:13He could see now that Dumbledore looked sad and tired.

00:12:16Yeah, Harry mumbled, yeah, I wondered.

00:12:19You see, Dumbledore continued, I believed it could not be long before Voldemort attempted

00:12:29to force his way into your mind, to manipulate and misdirect your thoughts, and I was not

00:12:34eager to give him more incentives to do so.

00:12:36I was sure that if he realised that your relationship was, or had ever been, closer than that of

00:12:43headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me.

00:12:47I feared the uses to which he would put you, the possibility that he might try and possess

00:12:52you.

00:12:53Harry, I believe I was right to think that Voldemort would have made use of you in such

00:12:57a way.

00:12:58On those rare occasions when he had a close contact, I thought I saw a shadow of him stir

00:13:02behind your eyes.

00:13:04Harry remembered the feeling that a dormant snake had risen in him, ready to strike, in

00:13:09those moments when he and Dumbledore had made eye contact.

00:13:13Voldemort's aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my destruction.

00:13:18It would have been yours.

00:13:19He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short while ago, that I would sacrifice you

00:13:23in the hope of killing him.

00:13:25So you see, I have been trying, in distancing myself from you, to protect you, Harry.

00:13:30An old man's mistake.

00:13:32He sighed deeply.

00:13:33Harry was letting the words wash over him.

00:13:35He would have been so interested to know all of this a few months ago, but now it was mean

00:13:39meaningless compared to the gaping chasm inside him that was the loss of Sirius.

00:13:44None of it mattered.

00:13:46Sirius told me you felt Voldemort awake inside you, the very night that you had the vision

00:13:51of Arthur Weasley's attack.

00:13:53I knew at once that my worst fears were correct.

00:13:56Voldemort had realized he could use you, and in an attempt to arm you against Voldemort's

00:14:00assaults on your mind, I arranged occulomancy lessons with Professor Snape.

00:14:05He paused.

00:14:06Harry watched the sunlight, which was sliding slowly across the polished surface of Dumbledore's

00:14:10desk.

00:14:11Illuminate a silver inkpot and handsome scarlet quill.

00:14:14Harry could tell that the portraits all around them were awake and listening raptly to Dumbledore's

00:14:19explanation.

00:14:20He could hear the occasional rustle of robes, the slight clearing of a throat.

00:14:24Phineas had still not returned.

00:14:26Professor Snape discovered, Dumbledore resumed, that you had been dreaming about the door

00:14:30to the Department of Mysteries for months.

00:14:33Voldemort, of course, had been obsessed with the possibility of hearing the prophecy ever

00:14:36since he regained his body, and as he dwelled on the door, so did you, though you did not

00:14:42know what it meant.

00:14:43And then you saw Rookwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest,

00:14:48telling Voldemort what we had known all along, that the prophecies held in the Ministry of

00:14:53Magic are heavily protected.

00:14:55Only the people to whom they refer can lift them from the shelves without suffering madness.

00:15:00In this case, either Voldemort himself would have had to enter the Ministry of Magic and

00:15:05risk revealing himself at last, or else you would have to take it for him.

00:15:09It became a matter of even greater urgency that you should master oculomancy.

00:15:14But I didn't, muttered Harry.

00:15:16He said it allowed to try and ease the dead weight of guilt inside him.

00:15:19A confession must surely relieve some of the terrible pressure squeezing his heart.

00:15:23I didn't practice.

00:15:24I didn't bother.

00:15:25I could have stopped myself having those dreams.

00:15:28Hermione kept telling me to do it.

00:15:29If I had, he'd never have been able to show me where to go, and Sirius wouldn't.

00:15:35Sirius wouldn't.

00:15:37Something was erupting inside Harry's head, a need to justify himself, to explain.

00:15:42I tried to check.

00:15:43He'd really taken Sirius.

00:15:45I went to Umbridge's office.

00:15:46I spoke to Creature in the fire, and he said Sirius wasn't there.

00:15:50He said he'd gone.

00:15:51Creature lied, said Dumbledore calmly.

00:15:53You are not his master.

00:15:55He could lie to you without even needing to punish himself.

00:15:58Creature intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic.

00:16:01He?

00:16:02He sent me on purpose?

00:16:03Oh yes, Creature, I am afraid, has been serving more than one master for months.

00:16:08How?

00:16:09said Harry blankly.

00:16:10He hasn't been out of Grimmauld Place for years.

00:16:13Creature seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas, said Dumbledore, when Sirius apparently

00:16:18shouted at him to get out.

00:16:20He took Sirius at his word, and interpreted this as an order to leave the house.

00:16:25He went to the only black family member for whom he had any respect left, Black's cousin

00:16:31Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix and a wife of Lucius Malfoy.

00:16:36How do you know all this?

00:16:37Harry said.

00:16:38His heart was beating very fast.

00:16:40He felt sick.

00:16:41He remembered worrying about Creature's odd absence over Christmas, remembered him turning

00:16:46up again in the attic.

00:16:48Creature told me last night, said Dumbledore.

00:16:50You see, when you gave Professor Snape that cryptic warning, he realized that you had

00:16:54a vision of Sirius trapped in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries.

00:16:58He, like you, attempted to contact Sirius at once.

00:17:01I should explain that members of the Order of the Phoenix have more reliable methods

00:17:05of communicating than the fire in Dolores Umbridge's office.

00:17:09Professor Snape found that Sirius was alive and safe in Grimmauld Place.

00:17:13When, however, you did not return from your trip into the forest with Dolores Umbridge,

00:17:18Professor Snape grew worried that you still believed Sirius to be a captive of Lord Voldemort's.

00:17:25He alerted certain Order members at once.

00:17:28Dumbledore heaved a great sigh and continued.

00:17:31Halestormoody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupin were at Headquarters

00:17:37when he made contact.

00:17:38All agreed to go to your aid at once.

00:17:41Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind, as he needed somebody to remain at

00:17:45Headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due there at any moment.

00:17:49In the meantime, he, Professor Snape, intended to search the forest for you.

00:17:55But Sirius did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you.

00:17:59He delegated to Creature the task of telling me what had happened, and so it was that when

00:18:04I arrived in Grimmauld Place shortly after, they had all left for the Ministry.

00:18:08It was the Elf who told me, laughing fit to burst, where Sirius had gone.

00:18:14He was laughing, said Harry in a hollow voice.

00:18:16Oh yes, said Dumbledore.

00:18:18You see Creature was not able to betray us totally.

00:18:21He is not Secret Keeper for the Order.

00:18:23He could not give the Malfoys our whereabouts, or tell them any of the Order's confidential

00:18:28plans that he had been forbidden to reveal.

00:18:31He was bound by the enchantments of his kind, which is to say that he could not disobey

00:18:35a direct order from his master Sirius, but he gave Narcissa information of the sort that

00:18:40is very valuable to Voldemort, yet must have seemed much too trivial for Sirius to think

00:18:46of banning him from repeating it.

00:18:48Like what, said Harry?

00:18:49Like the fact that the person Sirius cared most about in the world was you, said Dumbledore

00:18:55quietly.

00:18:56Like the fact that you were coming to regard Sirius as a mixture of father and brother.

00:19:01Voldemort knew already, of course, that Sirius was in the Order, and that you knew where

00:19:05he was, but Creature's information made him realise that the one person for whom you would

00:19:10go to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black.

00:19:14Harry's lips were cold and numb.

00:19:16So when I asked Creature if Sirius was there last night, the Malfoys, undoubtedly, in Voldemort's

00:19:23instructions, had told him he must find a way of keeping Sirius out of the way once

00:19:27you had seen the vision of Sirius being tortured.

00:19:30Then, if you decided to check whether Sirius was at home or not, Creature would be able

00:19:34to pretend he was not.

00:19:36Creature injured Buckbeak the Hippogriff yesterday, and, at the moment when you made your appearance

00:19:42in the fire, Sirius was upstairs attending to him.

00:19:46There seemed to be very little air in Harry's lungs.

00:19:48His breathing was quick and shallow.

00:19:51And Creature told you all this?

00:19:54And laughed, he croaked.

00:19:55He did not wish to tell me, said Dumbledore, but I am a sufficiently accomplished legiliment's

00:20:02myself to know when I am being lied to, and I persuaded him to tell me the full story

00:20:07before I left for the Department of Mysteries.

00:20:10And, whispered Harry, his hands curled in cold fists on his knees, and Hermione kept

00:20:16telling us to be nice to him.

00:20:18She was quite right, Harry, said Dumbledore.

00:20:20I warned Sirius when we adopted Twelve-Grim-Old-Place as our headquarters that Creature must be

00:20:24treated with kindness and respect.

00:20:26I also told him that Creature could be dangerous to us.

00:20:30I do not think Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever saw Creature as a being with

00:20:34feelings as acute as a human's.

00:20:37Don't you blame, don't you talk about Sirius like...

00:20:41Harry's breath was constricted.

00:20:43He could not get the words out properly, but the rage that had subsided briefly flared

00:20:46in him again.

00:20:47He would not let Dumbledore criticise Sirius.

00:20:51Creature's a lying fowl.

00:20:52He deserved...

00:20:53Creature is what he has been made by wizards, Harry, said Dumbledore.

00:20:57Yes, he is to be pitied.

00:20:59His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's.

00:21:02He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, perhaps because Sirius was the last of the family

00:21:07to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him.

00:21:12And whatever Creature's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Creature's

00:21:16lot easier.

00:21:17Don't talk about Sirius like that, Harry yelled.

00:21:20He was on his feet again, furious, ready to fly at Dumbledore, who had plainly not understood

00:21:24Sirius at all, how brave he was, how much he had suffered.

00:21:28What about Snape?

00:21:29Harry spat.

00:21:30You're not talking about him, are you?

00:21:32When I told him Voldemort had Sirius, he just sneered at me as usual.

00:21:35Harry!

00:21:36You know Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not to take you seriously in front

00:21:41of Dolores Umbridge, said Dumbledore steadily, but as I have explained, he informed the Order

00:21:46as soon as possible about what you had said.

00:21:49It was he who deduced where you had gone when you did not return from the forest.

00:21:53It was he, too, who gave Professor Umbridge fake veritaserum when she was attempting to

00:21:58force you to tell her Sirius's whereabouts.

00:22:01Harry disregarded this.

00:22:02He felt a savage pleasure in blaming Snape.

00:22:05It seemed to be easing his own sense of dreadful guilt, and he wanted to hear Dumbledore agree

00:22:09with him.

00:22:10Snape!

00:22:11Snape goaded Sirius about staying in the house.

00:22:14He made out Sirius was a coward.

00:22:17Sirius was much too old and clever to have allowed such feeble taunts to hurt him, said

00:22:21Dumbledore.

00:22:22Snape!

00:22:23Stopped giving me occupancy lessons, Harry snarled.

00:22:26He threw me out of the office.

00:22:28I am aware of it, said Dumbledore heavily.

00:22:30I have already said that it was a mistake for me to not teach you myself, though I was

00:22:35sure at the time that nothing could be more dangerous than to open your mind even further

00:22:39to Voldemort while in my presence.

00:22:42Snape!

00:22:43Made it worse.

00:22:44My scar always hurt worse after lessons with him, Harry remembered Ron's thoughts on the

00:22:48subject and plunged on.

00:22:49How do you know he wasn't trying to soften me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him

00:22:53to get inside my…

00:22:55I trust Severus Snape, said Dumbledore simply.

00:22:58But I forgot, another old man's mistake, that some wounds run too deep for the healing.

00:23:04I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father.

00:23:08I was wrong.

00:23:09But that's OK, is it?

00:23:10yelled Harry, ignoring the scandalized faces and disapproving mutterings of the portraits

00:23:15on the walls.

00:23:16It's OK for Snape to hate my dad, but it's not OK for Sirius to hate Creature.

00:23:21Sirius did not hate Creature, said Dumbledore.

00:23:24He regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice.

00:23:27Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.

00:23:32The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie.

00:23:35We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for far too long, and we are now reaping

00:23:41our reward.

00:23:43So Sirius deserved what he got, did he?

00:23:45Harry yelled.

00:23:46I did not say that, nor will you ever hear me say that, Dumbledore replied quietly.

00:23:51Sirius was not a cruel man.

00:23:52He was kind to house elves in general.

00:23:55He had no love for Creature, because Creature was a living reminder of the home Sirius had

00:23:59hated.

00:24:00Yeah, he did hate it, said Harry, his voice cracking, turning his back on Dumbledore and

00:24:05walking away.

00:24:06The sun was bright inside the room now, and the eyes of all the portraits followed him

00:24:09as he walked, without realising what he was doing, without seeing the office at all.

00:24:14You made him stay shut up in that house, and he hated it.

00:24:16That's why he wanted to get out last night.

00:24:18I was trying to keep Sirius alive, said Dumbledore quietly.

00:24:23People don't like being locked up, Harry said furiously, rounding on him.

00:24:27You did it to me all last summer.

00:24:29Dumbledore closed his eyes and buried his face in his long-fingered hands.

00:24:33Harry watched him, but this uncharacteristic sign of exhaustion or sadness or whatever

00:24:38it was from Dumbledore did not soften him.

00:24:41On the contrary, he felt even angrier that Dumbledore was showing signs of weakness.

00:24:46He had no business being weak when Harry wanted to rage and storm at him.

00:24:50Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.

00:24:54It is time, he said, for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.

00:24:59Please sit down.

00:25:00I am going to tell you everything.

00:25:03I ask only a little patience.

00:25:04You will have your chance to rage at me, to do whatever you like, when I have finished.

00:25:09I will not stop you.

00:25:10Harry glared at him for a moment, then flung himself back into the chair opposite Dumbledore

00:25:14and waited.

00:25:17Dumbledore stared for a moment at the sunlit grounds outside the window, then looked back

00:25:21at Harry and said,

00:25:22Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole as I had planned and intended.

00:25:29Well, not quite whole.

00:25:31You had suffered.

00:25:32I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep.

00:25:35I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.

00:25:40He paused.

00:25:41Harry said nothing.

00:25:42You might ask, and with good reason, why it had to be so.

00:25:46Why could some wizarding family not have taken you in?

00:25:49Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise

00:25:53you as a son.

00:25:55My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive.

00:25:58You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but I realized.

00:26:01Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters, and many of them are almost

00:26:06as terrible as he, were still at large, angry, desperate and violent, and I had to make my

00:26:11decision too with regard to the years ahead.

00:26:14Did I believe that Voldemort was gone forever?

00:26:16No.

00:26:17I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years before he returned, but I was

00:26:22sure he would do so, and I was sure too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest

00:26:27until he killed you.

00:26:29I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard

00:26:33alive.

00:26:34I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely

00:26:38to be invincible if he ever returned to full power.

00:26:42But I knew too where Voldemort was weak, and so I made my decision.

00:26:46You would be protected by an ancient magic, of which he knows, which he despises, and

00:26:51which he has always therefore underestimated, to his cost.

00:26:54I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you.

00:26:59She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your

00:27:04veins to this day.

00:27:06I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood.

00:27:08I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.

00:27:13She doesn't love me, said Harry at once.

00:27:15She doesn't give a damn.

00:27:16But she took you, Dumbledore cut across him.

00:27:19She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took

00:27:24you, and in doing so she sealed the charm I placed upon you.

00:27:28Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.

00:27:34I still don't.

00:27:35While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot

00:27:40be touched or harmed by Voldemort.

00:27:42He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister.

00:27:46Her blood became your refuge.

00:27:47You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst

00:27:52you are there, he cannot hurt you.

00:27:55Your aunt knows this.

00:27:56I explained what I had done in the letter I left with you on her doorstep.

00:28:00She knows that allowing you house-room may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen

00:28:05years.

00:28:06Wait, said Harry.

00:28:07Wait a moment.

00:28:08He sat up straighter in his chair, staring at Dumbledore.

00:28:12You sent that howler.

00:28:13You told her to remember.

00:28:14It was your voice.

00:28:15I thought, said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, that she might need reminding

00:28:20of the pact she had sealed by taking you.

00:28:22I suspected the dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers of having you as

00:28:26a surrogate son.

00:28:28It did, said Harry quietly.

00:28:30Well, my uncle more than her.

00:28:32He wanted to chuck me out.

00:28:33But after the howler came, she said I had to stay.

00:28:36He stared at the floor for a moment, then said, But what's this got to do with—

00:28:40He could not say Sirius's name.

00:28:43Five years ago then, continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story,

00:28:49you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked,

00:28:53perhaps, yet alive and healthy.

00:28:55You were not pampered, a pampered little prince, but as a normal boy as I could have

00:29:00hoped under the circumstances.

00:29:03Thus far my plan was working well.

00:29:05And then?

00:29:06Well, you remember the events of your first year at Hogwarts quite as clearly as I do.

00:29:10You rose magnificently to the challenge that faced you, and sooner, much sooner than I

00:29:14had anticipated, you found yourself face to face with Voldemort.

00:29:18You survived again.

00:29:20You did more.

00:29:21You delayed his return to full power and strength.

00:29:23You fought a man's fight.

00:29:25I was prouder of you than I can say.

00:29:28Yet there was a flaw in this wonderful plan of mine, said Dumbledore, an obvious flaw

00:29:32that I knew even then might be the undoing of it all, and yet, knowing how important

00:29:37it was that my plan should succeed, I told myself that I would not permit this flaw to

00:29:41ruin it.

00:29:42I alone could prevent this, so I alone must be strong.

00:29:46And here was my first test, as you lay in the hospital wing, weak from your struggle

00:29:50with Voldemort.

00:29:52I don't understand what you're saying, said Harry.

00:29:54Don't you remember asking me, as you lay in the hospital wing, why Voldemort had tried

00:29:58to kill you when you were a baby?

00:30:00Harry nodded.

00:30:01Ought I to have told you then?

00:30:05Harry stared into the blue eyes and said nothing, but his heart was racing again.

00:30:09You do not see the flaw in the plan yet?

00:30:12No, perhaps not.

00:30:13Well, as you know, I decided not to answer you.

00:30:15Eleven, I told myself, was much too young to know.

00:30:19I had never intended to tell you, when you were eleven, that knowledge would be too much

00:30:23at such a young age.

00:30:25I should have recognized the danger signs then.

00:30:27I should have asked myself why I did not feel more disturbed that you had already asked

00:30:32me the question, to which I knew one day I must give a terrible answer.

00:30:35I should have recognized that I was too happy to think that I did not have to do it on that

00:30:40particular day.

00:30:41You were too young, much too young.

00:30:44And so we entered your second year at Hogwarts, and once again you met challengers, even grown

00:30:49wizards, have never faced.

00:30:50Once again you acquitted yourself beyond my wildest dreams.

00:30:54You did not ask me again, however, why Voldemort had left that mark on you.

00:30:59We discussed your scar, oh yes, we came very, very close to the subject.

00:31:03Why did I not tell you everything?

00:31:05Well, it seemed to me that twelve was, after all, hardly better than eleven, to receive

00:31:10such information.

00:31:11I allowed you to leave my presence blood-stained, exhausted but exhilarated, and if I felt a

00:31:16twinge of unease that I thought, perhaps, to have told you then, it was swiftly silenced.

00:31:23You were still too young, still so young, you see, and I could not find it in myself

00:31:29to spoil that night of triumph.

00:31:31Do you see, Harry, do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now?

00:31:34I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid, that

00:31:39I must avoid.

00:31:40I don't.

00:31:41I cared about you too much, said Dumbledore simply.

00:31:45I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of

00:31:49mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed.

00:31:55In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.

00:32:01Is there a defence?

00:32:02I defy anyone who has watched you as I have, and I have watched you more closely than you

00:32:07can have imagined.

00:32:08Not to want to save you more pain than you have already suffered?

00:32:12What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered

00:32:16in the vague future?

00:32:18If in the here and now you were alive and well and happy, I never dreamed that I would

00:32:23have such a person on my hands.

00:32:25We entered your third year.

00:32:26I watched from afar as you struggled to repel Dementors, as you found Sirius, learned what

00:32:32he was, and rescued him.

00:32:34Was I to tell you then, at the moment when you had triumphantly snatched your godfather

00:32:38from the jaws of the ministry?

00:32:40But now, at the age of thirteen, my excuses were running out.

00:32:44Young, you might be, but you had proved you were exceptional.

00:32:48My conscience was uneasy, Harry.

00:32:50I knew the time must come soon.

00:32:53But you came out of the maze last year, having watched Cedric Diggory die, having escaped

00:32:57death so narrowly yourself, and I did not tell you, though I knew now Voldemort had

00:33:03returned.

00:33:04I must do it soon.

00:33:05And now, tonight, I know you have long been ready for the knowledge I have kept from you

00:33:08for so long, perhaps, because you have proved that I should have placed the burden upon

00:33:13you before this.

00:33:14My only defence is this.

00:33:16I have watched you struggling under more burdens than any student who has ever passed through

00:33:20this school, and I could not bring myself to add another, the greatest one of all."

00:33:25Harry waited, but Dumbledore did not speak.

00:33:28I still don't understand.

00:33:31Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly

00:33:35before your birth.

00:33:37He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents.

00:33:41He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms

00:33:45of the prophecy.

00:33:46He discovered to his cost that he was mistaken.

00:33:49When the curse intended to kill you backfired, and so since his return to his body, and particularly

00:33:56since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that

00:34:00prophecy in its entirety.

00:34:03This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return, the knowledge

00:34:08of how to destroy you.

00:34:10The sun had risen fully now, Dumbledore's office was bathed in it, the glass case in

00:34:14which the sword of Godric Gryffindor resided gleamed white and opaque, the fragments of

00:34:20the instruments Harry had thrown to the floor glistened like raindrops, and behind him the

00:34:24baby forks made soft chirping noises in his nest of ashes.

00:34:28The prophecy smashed, Harry said blankly.

00:34:31I was pulling Neville up those benches in the room where the archway was, and I ripped

00:34:35his robes and it fell.

00:34:37The thing that smashed was merely the record of the prophecy kept by the Department of

00:34:41Mysteries, but the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the means of recalling

00:34:47it perfectly.

00:34:48Who heard it? asked Harry, though he thought he knew the answer already.

00:34:52I did, said Dumbledore, on a cold, wet night sixteen years ago in a room above the bar

00:34:58at the Hogshead Inn.

00:34:59I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of divination teacher, though it was

00:35:03against my inclination to allow the subject of divination to continue at all.

00:35:07The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted seer, and I

00:35:13fought it common politeness to meet her.

00:35:15I was disappointed.

00:35:17It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself.

00:35:19I told her courteously, I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post.

00:35:24I turned to leave.

00:35:27Dumbledore got to his feet and walked past Harry to the black cabinet that stood beside

00:35:31Fawke's perch.

00:35:33He bent down, slid back a catch and took from inside it the shallow stone basin carved with

00:35:38runes around the edges, in which Harry had seen his father tormenting Snape.

00:35:43Dumbledore walked back to the desk, placed the pensieve upon it and raised his wand to

00:35:47his own temple.

00:35:48From it he withdrew silvery, gossamer fine strands of Fawke clinging to the wand and

00:35:52deposited them into the basin.

00:35:54He sat back down behind his desk and watched his thoughts swirl and drift inside the pensieve

00:35:59for a moment.

00:36:00Then, with a sigh, he raised his wand and prodded the silvery substance with its tip.

00:36:04Her figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind

00:36:09her glasses, and she revolved slowly, her feet in the basin.

00:36:12But when Sibyl Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in

00:36:17the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her once use once before.

00:36:22This the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have

00:36:27thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his

00:36:33equal.

00:36:34But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the

00:36:39other, for neither can live while the other survives.

00:36:42The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.

00:36:49The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.

00:36:54The silence within the office was absolute.

00:36:56Neither Dumbledore nor Harry, nor any of the portraits made a sound.

00:37:00Even Forks had fallen silent.

00:37:02Professor Dumbledore, Harry said very quietly, for Dumbledore, still staring at the Pensieve,

00:37:07seemed completely lost in thought.

00:37:09It did that mean?

00:37:12What did that mean?

00:37:13It meant, said Dumbledore, that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord

00:37:18Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago.

00:37:23This boy would have been born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times.

00:37:29Harry felt as though something was closing in on him.

00:37:32His breathing seemed difficult again.

00:37:35It means me.

00:37:37Dumbledore took a breath.

00:37:39The odd thing, Harry, he said softly, is that it may not have meant you at all.

00:37:44Dumbledore's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of

00:37:48July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents

00:37:54having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times.

00:37:57One of course was you.

00:37:58The other was Neville Longbottom.

00:38:01But then why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?

00:38:06The official record was relabeled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child, said Dumbledore.

00:38:11It seemed plain to the Keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have

00:38:16tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sybil was referring.

00:38:21Then it might not be me, said Harry.

00:38:23I am afraid, said Dumbledore slowly, looking as though every word cost him a great effort,

00:38:28that there is no doubt that it is you.

00:38:31But you said Neville was born at the end of July, too, and his mum and dad.

00:38:36You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, the final identifying feature of the boy who

00:38:40could vanquish Voldemort.

00:38:42Voldemort himself would mark him as his equal.

00:38:45And so he did, Harry.

00:38:46He chose you, not Neville.

00:38:48He gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and curse.

00:38:52But he might have chosen wrong, said Harry.

00:38:54He might have marked the wrong person.

00:38:56He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him, said Dumbledore.

00:39:00And notice this, Harry.

00:39:01He chose not the pure blood, which according to his creed is the only kind of wizard worth

00:39:06being or knowing, but the half-blood, like himself.

00:39:10He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar

00:39:14he did not kill you as he intended, but gave you powers and a future which have fitted

00:39:19you to escape him not once, but four times so far.

00:39:23Something that neither your parents nor Neville's parents ever achieved.

00:39:28Why did he do it then, said Harry, who felt numb and cold?

00:39:31Why did he try and kill me as a baby?

00:39:33He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we were older

00:39:37and tried to kill whoever it was then.

00:39:40That night, indeed, have been the more practical course, said Dumbledore, except that Voldemort's

00:39:46information about the prophecy was incomplete.

00:39:49The Hogshead Inn, which Sybil chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say,

00:39:54a more interesting clientele than the free broomsticks.

00:39:57As you and your friends found out to your cost, an eye to mine that night, it is a place

00:40:02where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard.

00:40:05Of course, I had not dreamed when I set out to meet Sybil Trelawney that I would hear

00:40:09anything worth overhearing.

00:40:11My hour, hour, one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only

00:40:17a short way into the prophecy, and thrown from the building.

00:40:21So he only heard, he heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in

00:40:26July to parents who had frustified Voldemort.

00:40:29Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring

00:40:34power to you, and marking you as his equal.

00:40:36So Voldemort never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be

00:40:40wise to wait, to learn more.

00:40:42He did not know that you would have power.

00:40:45The Lord, the Dark Lord, knows not."

00:40:47"'But I don't,' said Harry, in a strangled voice, "'I haven't any powers.

00:40:52He hasn't got.

00:40:53I couldn't fight the way he did tonight.

00:40:55I can't possess people, or kill them.'

00:40:57"'There is room in the Department of Mysteries,' interrupted Dumbledore.

00:41:01"'A room that is kept locked at all times.

00:41:04It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence,

00:41:10than the forces of nature.

00:41:12It is also perhaps the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there.

00:41:16It is the power held within that room that you possess, in such quantities of which Voldemort

00:41:21has not at all.

00:41:23That power took you, to save Sirius tonight.

00:41:26That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to

00:41:30reside in a body so full of the force he detests.

00:41:34In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind.

00:41:38It was your heart that saved you.'"

00:41:42Harry closed his eyes.

00:41:43If he had not gone to save Sirius, Sirius would not have died.

00:41:46More to stave off the moment when he would have had to think of Sirius again, Harry asked,

00:41:51without caring much about the answer, the end of the prophecy.

00:41:55It was something about, "'Neither can live, while the other survives,' said Dumbledore.

00:42:00"'So,' said Harry, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair

00:42:05inside him, "'so does that mean that, that one of us has got to kill the other one, in

00:42:10the end?'

00:42:11"'Yes,' said Dumbledore.

00:42:13For a long time, neither of them spoke.

00:42:15Somewhere far beyond the office walls, Harry could hear the sound of voices, students heading

00:42:19down to the Great Hall for their early breakfast, perhaps.

00:42:22It seemed impossible that there could be people in the world who still desired food, who laughed,

00:42:28who neither knew nor cared that Sirius Black was gone forever.

00:42:32Sirius seemed a million miles away already.

00:42:35Even now a part of Harry still believed that if he had only pulled back that veil, he would

00:42:39have found Sirius looking back at him, greeting him, perhaps with his laugh, like a bark.

00:42:44"'I feel I owe you another explanation, Harry,' said Dumbledore hesitantly.

00:42:50"'You may, perhaps, have wondered why I never chose you as a Prefect.

00:42:54I must confess that I rather thought you had enough responsibility to be going along

00:43:00with—'

00:43:01Harry looked up at him, and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver

00:43:06beard.

00:43:09Chapter 38 THE SECOND WAR BEGINS

00:43:12HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS

00:43:14In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He

00:43:19Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active.

00:43:23It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord—well,

00:43:28you know who I mean—is alive and among us again, said Fudge, looking tired and flustered

00:43:32as he addressed reporters.

00:43:33It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the Dementors of Azkaban,

00:43:38who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ.

00:43:42We believe the Dementors are currently taking direction from Lord—thingy.

00:43:46We urge the magical population to remain vigilant.

00:43:48The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary, home, and personal defence,

00:43:52which will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming month.

00:43:56The Minister's statement was met with dismay and alarm from the wizarding community, which,

00:44:00as recently as last Wednesday, was receiving Ministry assurances that there was no truth

00:44:05whatsoever in these persistent rumours that you-know-who is operating amongst us once

00:44:10more.

00:44:11Details of the events that led to the Ministry turnaround are still hazy, though it is believed

00:44:15that He Who Must Not Be Named and a select band of followers known as Death Eaters gained

00:44:20entry to the Ministry of Magic itself on Thursday evening.

00:44:23Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,

00:44:28reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and reinstated chief warlock of

00:44:33the Whisinger Motte, has so far been unavailable for comment.

00:44:36He has insisted over the past year that you-know-who is not dead, as was widely hoped and believed,

00:44:41but is recruiting followers once more for a fresh attempt to seize power.

00:44:45Meanwhile, the boy who lived—

00:44:47There you are, Harry.

00:44:48I knew they'd drag you into it somehow, said Hermione, looking over the top of the paper

00:44:51at him.

00:44:52They were in the hospital wing.

00:44:54Harry was sitting on the end of Ron's bed, and they were both listening to Hermione read

00:44:57the front page of the Sunday Prophet.

00:44:59Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madame Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot

00:45:03of Hermione's bed.

00:45:04Neville, whose nose had likewise been returned to a normal size and shape, was in a chair

00:45:08between the two beds, and Luna, who had dropped in to visit, clutching the latest edition

00:45:13of the Quibbler, was reading the magazine upside down and apparently not taking a word

00:45:17Hermione was saying in.

00:45:18He's the boy who lived again, though, isn't he? said Ron, darkly.

00:45:22Not such a deluded show-off any more, eh?

00:45:24He helped himself to a handful of chocolate frogs from the immense pile on the bedside

00:45:28cabinet, threw a few to Harry, Ginny and Neville, and ripped off the wrapper of his own with

00:45:32his teeth.

00:45:33There were still deep welts on his forearms where the brain's tentacles had wrapped around

00:45:37him.

00:45:38According to Madame Pomfrey, thwarts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything

00:45:41else, though since she had started applying copious amounts of Dr. Ubley's Oblivious

00:45:45Unction there seemed to have been some improvement.

00:45:48Yes, they're very complimentary about you, Harry, said Hermione, scanning down the article.

00:45:52A lone voice of truth, perceived as unbalanced yet never wavered in his story, forced to

00:45:57bear ridicule and slander.

00:45:59Hmm, she said, frowning, and noticed they don't mention the fact that it was them doing

00:46:03all the ridiculing and slandering in the Prophet.

00:46:05She winced slightly and put a hand to her ribs, the curse Dollehov had used on her,

00:46:09though less effective than it would have been.

00:46:12Had he been able to say the incantation aloud?

00:46:15Had nevertheless caused, in Madame Pomfrey's words, quite enough damage to be going on

00:46:19with.

00:46:20Hermione was having to take ten different types of potion every day, was improving greatly,

00:46:24and was already bored with the hospital wing.

00:46:26You know who's last attempt to take over.

00:46:29Pages two to four.

00:46:30What the Ministry should have told us.

00:46:31Page five.

00:46:32Why nobody listened to Albus Dumbledore.

00:46:35Pages six to eight.

00:46:36Exclusive interview with Harry Potter.

00:46:38Page nine.

00:46:39Well, said Hermione, folding up the newspaper and throwing it aside, it's certainly given

00:46:42them lots to write about, and that interview with Harry isn't exclusive, it's the one

00:46:47that was in the Quibbler months ago.

00:46:49Daddy sold it to them, said Luna vaguely, turning to a page of the Quibbler.

00:46:54He got a very good price for it too, so we're going to go on an expedition to Sweden this

00:46:58summer to see if we can catch a crumplehorn snorkak.

00:47:03Hermione seemed to struggle with herself for a moment and then said, that sounds lovely.

00:47:08Ginny caught Harry's eye and looked away quickly, grinning.

00:47:11So, anyway, said Hermione, sitting up a little straighter and wincing again, what's going

00:47:16on in school?

00:47:17Well, Flitwick's got rid of Fred and George's swamp, said Ginny.

00:47:20He did it in about three seconds, but he left a tiny patch under the window and he's roped

00:47:24it off.

00:47:25Why?

00:47:26said Hermione, looking startled.

00:47:27Oh, he just says it was a really good bit of magic, said Ginny, shrugging.

00:47:31I think he left it as a monument to Fred and George, said Ron, through a mouthful of chocolate.

00:47:37They sent me all these, you know, he told Harry, pointing to the small fat mountain

00:47:41of frogs beside him.

00:47:43Must be doing all right out of that joke shop, eh?

00:47:46Hermione looked rather disapproving and asked, so has all the trouble stopped now Dumbledore's

00:47:50back?

00:47:51Yes, said Neville.

00:47:52Everything's settled right back to normal.

00:47:53I suppose Filch is happy, is he? asked Ron, popping a chocolate frog card featuring Dumbledore

00:48:00against his water jug.

00:48:02Not at all, said Ginny.

00:48:03He's really, really miserable, actually.

00:48:05He lowered her voice to a whisper.

00:48:07He keeps saying Umbridge was the best thing that ever happened to Hogwarts.

00:48:10All six of them looked around.

00:48:12Professor Umbridge was lying in a bed opposite them, gazing up at the ceiling.

00:48:16Dumbledore had strode alone into the forest to rescue her from the centaurs.

00:48:19How he had done it, how he had emerged from the trees supporting Professor Umbridge without

00:48:23so much as a scratch on him, nobody knew, and Umbridge was certainly not telling.

00:48:27Since she had returned to the castle, she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered

00:48:31a single word.

00:48:33Nobody really knew what was wrong with her, either.

00:48:35Her usually neat, mousy hair was very untidy, and there were still bits of twigs and leaves

00:48:39in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.

00:48:42Madam Pomfrey says she's just in shock, whispered Hermione.

00:48:45Sulking, more like, said Ginny.

00:48:48Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this, said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft

00:48:52clip-clopping noises.

00:48:54Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking around wildly.

00:48:57Anything wrong, Professor? called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around the office door.

00:49:02No, no, said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows.

00:49:05No, I must have been dreaming.

00:49:08Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in their bedclothes.

00:49:11Speaking of centaurs, said Hermione, when she had recovered a little, who's divination

00:49:15teacher now?

00:49:16Is Feren staying?

00:49:17He's got to, said Harry.

00:49:19The other centaurs won't take him back, will they?

00:49:21It looks like he and Trelawney are both going to teach, said Ginny.

00:49:24Bet Dumbledore wishes he could have got rid of Trelawney for good, said Ron, now munching

00:49:29on his fourteenth frog.

00:49:30Mind you, the whole subject's useless if you ask me.

00:49:33Feren's isn't a lot better.

00:49:35How can you say that, Hermione demanded, after we've just found out that there are real prophecies?

00:49:41Harry's heart began to race.

00:49:42He had not told Ron, Hermione or anyone else what the prophecy had contained.

00:49:46Neville had told them that it smashed while Harry was pulling him up the steps in the

00:49:50death room, and Harry had not yet corrected this impression.

00:49:53He was not ready to see their expressions when he told them that he must be either a

00:49:57murderer or victim.

00:49:58There was no other way.

00:50:00It is a pity it broke, said Hermione quietly, shaking her head.

00:50:04Yeah, it is, said Ron.

00:50:05Still, at least you-know-who never found out what it was either.

00:50:08What are you... where are you going? he added, looking both surprised and disappointed as

00:50:13Harry stood up.

00:50:15Uh, Hagrid, said Harry.

00:50:16You know, he just got back and I promised I'd go down and see him and tell him how you

00:50:20two are.

00:50:21Oh, all right then, said Ron grumpily, looking out the dormitory window at the patch of bright

00:50:26blue sky beyond.

00:50:27I wish we could come.

00:50:29Say hello to him for us, said Hermione, as Harry proceeded down the ward, and ask him

00:50:33what's happening about... about his little friend.

00:50:36Harry gave a wave of his hand to show he had heard, and understood, as he left the dormitory.

00:50:42The castle seemed very quiet, even for a Sunday.

00:50:45Everybody was clearly out in the sunny grounds, enjoying the end of their exams and the prospect

00:50:49of a last few days of term unhampered by revision or homework.

00:50:52Harry walked slowly along the deserted corridor, peering out of windows as he went.

00:50:57He could see people messing around in the air over the Quidditch pitch, and a couple

00:51:00of students swimming in the lake, accompanied by the giant squid.

00:51:04He was finding it hard to decide whether he wanted to be with people or not.

00:51:08Whenever he was in company he wanted to get away, and whenever he was alone he wanted

00:51:12company.

00:51:13He thought he might really go and visit Hagrid, though, as he had not talked to him properly

00:51:17since he'd returned.

00:51:18Harry had just descended the last marble step into the entrance hall when Malfoy, Crabbe

00:51:23and Goyle emerged from a door on the right that Harry knew led down to the sliver in

00:51:26common room.

00:51:28Harry stopped dead.

00:51:29So did Malfoy and the others.

00:51:30The only sounds were the shouts, laughter and splashes drifting into the hall from the

00:51:34grounds through the open front doors.

00:51:37Malfoy glanced around.

00:51:38Harry knew he was checking for signs of teachers.

00:51:40Then he looked back at Harry and said in a low voice,

00:51:43You're dead, Potter.

00:51:44Harry raised his eyebrows.

00:51:46Funny, he said.

00:51:47You'd think I'd have stopped walking around.

00:51:50Malfoy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him.

00:51:52He felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted

00:51:57with rage.

00:51:58You're going to pay, said Malfoy, in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

00:52:03I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father.

00:52:06Well, I'm terrified now, said Harry sarcastically.

00:52:09I suppose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three.

00:52:13What's the matter? he added, for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had all looked stricken at the sound

00:52:17of the name.

00:52:18He's a mate of your dad, isn't he?

00:52:20Not scared of him, are you?

00:52:21You think you're such a big man, Potter, said Malfoy, advancing now, Crabbe and Goyle flanking

00:52:26him.

00:52:27You wait.

00:52:28I'll have you.

00:52:29You can't land my father in prison.

00:52:30I thought I just had, said Harry.

00:52:32The Dementors have left Azkaban, said Malfoy quietly.

00:52:35Dad and the others, they'll be out in no time.

00:52:38Yeah, I expect they will, said Harry.

00:52:40Still, at least everyone knows what scumbags they are now.

00:52:44Malfoy's hand flew towards his wand, but Harry was too quick for him.

00:52:47He had drawn his own wand before Malfoy's fingers had even entered the pockets of his

00:52:51robes.

00:52:52Potter!

00:52:53The voice rang across the entrance hall.

00:52:55Snape had emerged from the staircase leading down to his office, and at the sight of him,

00:52:59Harry felt a great rush of hatred beyond anything he felt towards Malfoy.

00:53:04Whatever Dumbledore said, he would never forgive Snape.

00:53:07Never.

00:53:08What are you doing, Potter? said Snape, as coldly as ever, as he strode over to the four

00:53:13of them.

00:53:14I'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malfoy, sir, said Harry fiercely.

00:53:18Snape stared at him.

00:53:19Put that wand away at once, he said curtly.

00:53:23Ten points from Gryff...

00:53:26Snape looked towards the giant hourglasses on the walls and gave a sneering smile.

00:53:30Ah, I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hourglass to take away.

00:53:36In that case, Potter, we will simply have to add some more.

00:53:41Professor McGonagall had just stumped up the stone steps into the castle.

00:53:45She was carrying a tartan carpet bag in one hand and leaning heavily on a walking stick

00:53:49with the other, but otherwise looking quite well.

00:53:52Professor McGonagall, said Snape, striding forwards.

00:53:56Out of St Mungo's, I see.

00:53:58Yes, Professor Snape, said Professor McGonagall, shrugging off her travelling cloak.

00:54:03I'm quite as good as new.

00:54:05You two!

00:54:06Crab!

00:54:07Goyle!

00:54:08She beckoned them forwards imperiously and they came, shuffling their large feet and

00:54:10looking awkward.

00:54:11Here, said Professor McGonagall, thrusting her carpet bag into Crab's chest and her cloak

00:54:16into Goyle's.

00:54:18Take these up to my office for me.

00:54:20They turned and stumped away up the marble staircase.

00:54:22Right then, said Professor McGonagall, looking up at the hourglasses on the wall.

00:54:27Well I think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the

00:54:30world to the return of you-know-who.

00:54:33What say you, Professor Snape?

00:54:35What?

00:54:36Snapped Snape, though Harry knew he had heard perfectly well.

00:54:39Well, I suppose.

00:54:42So that's fifty each for Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom and Miss Granger, said Professor

00:54:47McGonagall, with a shower of rubies that fell down into the bottom bulb of Gryffindor's

00:54:52hourglass as she spoke.

00:54:53Oh, and fifty for Miss Lovegood, I suppose, she added, and a number of sapphires fell

00:54:58into Ravenclaw's glass.

00:55:00Now, you wanted to take ten from Mr Potter, I think, for Professor Snape, so there we

00:55:05are.

00:55:06The two rubies retreated into the upper bulb, leaving a respectable amount below nevertheless.

00:55:12Well Potter, Malfoy, I think you ought to be outside on a glorious day like this, Professor

00:55:17McGonagall continued briskly.

00:55:18Harry did not need telling twice, but thrust his wand back inside his robes and headed

00:55:22straight for the front doors, without another glance at Snape and Malfoy.

00:55:26The hot sun hit him with a blast as he walked across the lawns towards Hagrid's cabin, students

00:55:31lying around on the grass sunbathing, talking, reading the Sunday Prophet and eating sweets,

00:55:36looking up at him as he passed, some called out to him, or else waved, clearly eager to

00:55:41show that they, like the Prophet, had decided he was something of a hero.

00:55:45Harry said nothing to any of them, he had no idea how much they knew of what had happened

00:55:48three days ago, but he had so far avoided being questioned, and preferred to keep it

00:55:52that way.

00:55:53He thought at first, when he knocked on Hagrid's cabin door, that he was out, but then Fang

00:55:57came charging around the corner and almost bowled him over with the enthusiasm of his

00:56:01welcome.

00:56:02Hagrid, it transpired, was picking runner beans in his back garden.

00:56:06''Ah, all right, Harry?'' he said, beaming, when Harry approached the fence.

00:56:10''Come on, come on in, we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice!''

00:56:13''How's things?''

00:56:14Hagrid asked him, as they settled down at the wooden table with a glass apiece of ice

00:56:19juice.

00:56:20''You, er, feeling all right, are you?''

00:56:22Harry knew from the look of concern on Hagrid's face that he was not referring to Harry's

00:56:25physical well-being.

00:56:27''I'm fine,'' Harry said quickly, because he could not bear to discuss the thing that

00:56:30he knew was in Hagrid's mind.

00:56:33''So, where have you been?''

00:56:34''We've been hiding out in the mountains,'' said Hagrid.

00:56:36''Up in a cave, like Sirius did when he...''

00:56:39Hagrid broke off, cleared his throat gruffly, looked at Harry, and took a long draught of

00:56:44juice.

00:56:45''Anyway, back now,'' he said feebly.

00:56:47''You, er, you look better,'' said Harry, who was determined to keep the conversation

00:56:51moving away from Sirius.

00:56:53''What?'' said Hagrid, raising a massive hand and feeling his face.

00:56:57''Oh, oh, oh, yeah, well, Groppy's loads better behave now.

00:57:01Looks, er, loads seemed right pleased to see me when I got back.

00:57:05To tell you the truth, he's a good lad, really.

00:57:07I, er, I've been thinking about trying to find him a lady-friend, actually.''

00:57:11Harry would normally have tried to persuade Hagrid out of this idea at once.

00:57:14The prospect of a second giant taking up residence in the forest, possibly even wilder and more

00:57:19brutal than Grop, was possibly alarming, but somehow Harry could not muster the energy

00:57:25necessary to argue the point.

00:57:26He was starting to wish he was alone again, and with the idea of hastening his departure,

00:57:30he took several large gulps of his dandelion juice, half emptying his glass.

00:57:35''Everyone knows you've been telling the truth now, Harry,'' said Hagrid softly and unexpectedly.

00:57:39''That's got to be better, hasn't it?''

00:57:41Harry shrugged.

00:57:42''Look,'' Hagrid leaned towards him across the table, ''I knew Sirius longer than you

00:57:47did.

00:57:48He was in battle, and that's the way he'd have wanted to go.''

00:57:50''He didn't want to go at all,'' said Harry angrily.

00:57:54Hagrid bowed his great shaggy head.

00:57:56''Nah, I don't reckon he did,'' he said quietly.

00:57:58''But still, Harry, he was never one to sit around at home and let other people do the

00:58:03fighting.

00:58:04He couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't gone to help.''

00:58:06Harry leapt up.

00:58:07''I've got to go and visit Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing,'' he said mechanically.

00:58:11''Oh,'' said Hagrid, looking rather upset.

00:58:13''Oh, all right then, Harry.

00:58:16Take care of yourself, then, and drop back in if you've got a mow.''

00:58:19''Yeah, right.''

00:58:21Harry crossed to the door as fast as he could and pulled it open.

00:58:23He was out in the sunshine again before Hagrid had finished saying goodbye and walking away

00:58:27across the lawn.

00:58:28Once again people called out to him as he passed.

00:58:31He closed his eyes for a few moments, wishing they would all vanish, that he could open

00:58:35his eyes and find himself alone in the grounds.

00:58:38A few days ago, before his exams had finished and he had seen the vision Voldemort had planted

00:58:42in his mind, he would have given almost anything for the wizarding world to know he had been

00:58:47telling the truth, for them to believe that Voldemort was back and to know that he was

00:58:50neither a liar nor mad.

00:58:52Now, however, he walked a short way around the lake, sat down on its bank, sheltered

00:58:57from the gaze of passers-by behind a tangle of shrubs and stared out over the gleaming

00:59:01water, thinking.

00:59:03Perhaps the reason he wanted to be alone was because he had felt isolated from everybody

00:59:07since his talk with Dumbledore.

00:59:09An invisible barrier separated him from the rest of the world.

00:59:12He was, he had always been, a marked man.

00:59:15It was just that he had never really understood what that meant.

00:59:18And yet sitting here on the edge of the lake, with the terrible weight of grief dragging

00:59:22at him, with the loss of Sirius so raw and fresh inside, he could not muster any great

00:59:26sense of fear.

00:59:27It was sunny, and the grounds around him were full of laughing people, and even though he

00:59:31felt as distant from them as though he belonged to a different race, it was still very hard

00:59:35to believe as he sat here that his life must include or end in murder.

00:59:42He sat there for a long time, gazing out at the water, trying not to think about his

00:59:46godfather or to remember that it was directly across from here, on the opposite bank, that

00:59:50Sirius had once collapsed trying to fend off a hundred Dementors.

00:59:54The sun had set before he realised he was cold.

00:59:57He got up and returned to the castle, wiping his face on his sleeve as he went.

01:00:02Ron and Hermione left the hospital when completely cured three days before the end of term.

01:00:06Hermione kept showing signs of wanting to talk about Sirius, but Ron tended to make

01:00:11hushing noises every time she mentioned his name.

01:00:14Harry was still not sure whether or not he wanted to talk about his godfather yet.

01:00:18His wishes varied with his mood.

01:00:20He knew one thing though, unhappy as he felt at the moment, he would greatly miss Hogwarts

01:00:24in a few days' time when he was back at No. 4 Privet Drive, even though he now understood

01:00:29exactly why he had to return there every summer.

01:00:31He did not feel any better about it.

01:00:33Indeed, he had never dreaded his return more.

01:00:36Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term.

01:00:39It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinner time, evidently hoping

01:00:43to depart undetected, but unfortunately for her she met Peeves on the way, who seized

01:00:47his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises

01:00:52whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk.

01:00:57Many students ran out into the entrance hall to watch her running away down the path, and

01:01:01the heads of houses tried only half-heartedly to restrain them.

01:01:05Indeed, Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table under a few feeble

01:01:10remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after

01:01:16Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.

01:01:20Their last evening at school arrived.

01:01:22Most people had finished packing and were already heading down to the end of term leaving

01:01:26feast, but Harry had not even started.

01:01:29Just do it tomorrow, said Ron, who was waiting by the door of their dormitory.

01:01:33Come on, I'm starving.

01:01:34I won't be long.

01:01:35Look, you go ahead.

01:01:36But when the dormitory door closed behind Ron, Harry made no effort to speed up his

01:01:41packing.

01:01:42The very last thing he wanted to do was to attend the leaving feast.

01:01:44He was worried that Dumbledore would make some reference to him in his speech.

01:01:48He was sure to mention Voldemort's return.

01:01:50He had talked to him about it last year.

01:01:53After all, Harry pulled some crumpled robes out of the very bottom of his trunk to make

01:01:57way for folded ones and, as he did so, noticed a badly wrapped package lying in a corner

01:02:02of it.

01:02:03He could not think what it was doing there.

01:02:05He bent down, pulled it out from underneath his trainers and examined it.

01:02:09He realised what it was within seconds.

01:02:11Sirius had given it to him just inside the front door of Number 12 Grimauld Place.

01:02:16Use it if you need me, alright?

01:02:18Harry sank down onto his bed and unwrapped the package.

01:02:21Out fell a small, square mirror.

01:02:24It looked old.

01:02:25It was certainly dirty.

01:02:26Harry held it up to his face and saw his own reflection looking back at him.

01:02:30He turned the mirror over.

01:02:32There on the reverse side was a scribbled note from Sirius.

01:02:35This is a two-way mirror.

01:02:37I've got the other one of the pair.

01:02:40If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it.

01:02:42You'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours.

01:02:46James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions.

01:02:50Harry's heart began to race.

01:02:51He remembered seeing his dead parents in the mirror of Erised four years ago.

01:02:55He was going to be able to talk to Sirius again right now.

01:02:58He knew it.

01:02:59He looked around to make sure there was nobody else there.

01:03:02The dormitory was quite empty.

01:03:03He looked back at the mirror, raised it in front of his face with trembling hands and

01:03:07said loudly and clearly,

01:03:09Sirius.

01:03:10His breath misted the surface of the glass.

01:03:12He held the mirror even closer, excitement flooding through him, but the eyes blinking

01:03:16back at him through the fog were definitely his own.

01:03:19He wiped the mirror clear again and said so that every syllable rang clearly through the

01:03:24room, Sirius Black.

01:03:27Nothing happened.

01:03:28The frustrated face looking back out of the mirror was still definitely his own.

01:03:33Sirius didn't have his mirror on him when he went through the archway, said a small

01:03:37voice in Harry's head.

01:03:38That's why it's not working.

01:03:40Harry remained quite still for a moment, then hurled the mirror back into the trunk where

01:03:44it shattered.

01:03:45He'd been convinced for a whole shining minute that he was going to see Sirius talk to him

01:03:50again.

01:03:51Disappointment was burning in his throat.

01:03:52He got up and began throwing his things pell-mell into the trunk on top of the broken mirror.

01:03:57And then an idea struck him, a better idea than a mirror, a much bigger, more important

01:04:02idea.

01:04:03How had he never thought of it before?

01:04:05Why had he never asked?

01:04:07He was sprinting out of the dormitory and down the spiral staircase, hitting the walls

01:04:11as he ran and barely noticing, he hurtled across the empty common room, through the

01:04:15portrait hole and off along the corridor, ignoring the fat lady who called after him.

01:04:20The feast is about to start, you know, you're cutting it very fine.

01:04:23But Harry had no intention of going to the feast.

01:04:26How could it be that the place was full of ghosts whenever you didn't need one?

01:04:30Yet now he ran down staircases and along corridors and met nobody, either alive or dead.

01:04:36They were all clearly in the great hall, outside his charmed classroom.

01:04:39He came to a halt, panting and thinking, disconsolately, that he would have to wait until later, until

01:04:45after the end of the feast.

01:04:46But just as he had given up hope, he saw it, a translucent somebody, drifting across the

01:04:52end of the corridor.

01:04:53Hey!

01:04:54Hey!

01:04:55Nick!

01:04:56Nick!

01:04:57The ghost stuck its head back out of the wall, revealing the extravagantly plumed hat and

01:05:01dangerously wobbling head of Sir Nicholas de Mimsey Poppington.

01:05:05Good evening, he said, withdrawing the rest of his body from the solid stone and smiling

01:05:09at Harry.

01:05:10I am not the only one who is late then, though he sighed in a rather different sense, of

01:05:15course.

01:05:16Nick, can I ask you something?

01:05:19A most peculiar expression stole over nearly headless Nick's face as he inserted a finger

01:05:23in the stiff rough at his neck and tugged it a little straighter, apparently to give

01:05:27himself thinking time.

01:05:29He desisted only when his partially severed neck seemed about to give way completely.

01:05:33Er, now, Harry, said Nick, looking discomfited, can't he wait until after the feast?

01:05:38No, Nick, please, said Harry, I really need to talk to you.

01:05:42Can we go in here?

01:05:43Harry opened the door of the nearest classroom and nearly headless Nick sighed.

01:05:48Oh, well, very well, he said, looking resigned.

01:05:51I can't pretend I haven't been expecting it.

01:05:53Harry was holding the door open for him, but he drifted through the wall instead.

01:05:57Expecting what?

01:05:58Harry asked, as he closed the door.

01:06:00You to come and find me, said Nick, now gliding over to the window and looking out at the

01:06:05darkening window grounds.

01:06:07It happens sometimes, when somebody has suffered a, a loss.

01:06:11Well, said Harry, refusing to be deflected, you were right, I've, I've come to find you.

01:06:16Nick said nothing.

01:06:17It's, said Harry, who was finding this more awkward than he had anticipated, it's just,

01:06:23you're dead, but you're still here, aren't you?

01:06:26Nick sighed and continued to gaze out at the grounds.

01:06:28That's right, isn't it, Harry urged him, you died, but I'm talking to you, you can walk

01:06:33around Hogwarts and everything, can't you?

01:06:35Yes, said nearly headless Nick, quietly, I walk and talk, yes.

01:06:39So you came back, didn't you, said Harry urgently, people can come back, right, as ghosts, they

01:06:44don't have to disappear completely, well, he added impatiently, when Nick continued

01:06:49to say nothing, nearly headless Nick hesitated and then said, not everyone can come back

01:06:54as a ghost.

01:06:56What do you mean, said Harry quickly, only, only wizards, oh, said Harry, and he almost

01:07:01laughed with relief, well, that's okay then, the person I'm asking about is a wizard, so

01:07:05he can come back, right?

01:07:07Nick turned away from the window and looked mournfully at Harry, he won't come back.

01:07:12Who?

01:07:13Sirius Black, said Nick, but you did, said Harry angrily, you came back, you're dead

01:07:18and you didn't disappear, wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth to

01:07:22walk palely where their living selves once trod, said Nick miserably, but very few wizards

01:07:28choose that path.

01:07:29Why not, said Harry, anyway, it doesn't matter, Sirius won't care if it's unusual, he'll come

01:07:33back, I know he will, and so strong was his belief, Harry actually turned his head to

01:07:38check the door, sure for a split second that he was going to see Sirius, pearly white and

01:07:42transparent but beaming, walking through it towards him.

01:07:46He will not come back, repeated Nick, he will have, have gone on.

01:07:50What do you mean, gone on, said Harry quickly, gone on where, listen, what's happened, what

01:07:55happens when you die, anyway, where do you go, why doesn't everyone come back, why isn't

01:07:59this place full of ghosts, why, I cannot answer, said Nick, you're dead, aren't you, said Harry

01:08:05exasperatedly.

01:08:06Who can, who can answer better than you?

01:08:09I was afraid of death, said Nick softly, I chose to remain behind, I sometimes wonder

01:08:14whether I oughtn't to have, well, that is neither here nor there, in fact I am neither

01:08:18here nor there, he gave a small sad chuckle, I know nothing of the secrets of death, Harry,

01:08:24for I chose my feeble imitation of life instead, I believed, I believe learned wizards study

01:08:30the matter in the Department of Mysteries.

01:08:32Don't talk to me about that place, said Harry fiercely.

01:08:35I am sorry not to have been more help, said Nick gently, well, do excuse me, the feast

01:08:40you know, and he left the room, leaving Harry there alone, gazing blankly at the wall through

01:08:44which Nick had disappeared.

01:08:46Harry felt almost as though he had lost his godfather all over again, in losing the hope

01:08:50that he might be able to see or speak to him once more, he walked slowly and miserably

01:08:54back up through the empty castle, wondering whether he would ever feel cheerful again.

01:08:59He had turned the corner towards the fat lady's corridor when he saw somebody up ahead, fastening

01:09:03a note to a board on the wall, a second glance showed him it was Luna, there were no good

01:09:09hiding places nearby, she was bound to have heard his footsteps, in any case Harry could

01:09:13hardly muster the energy to avoid anyone at the moment.

01:09:17Hello, said Luna vaguely, glancing around at him as she stepped back from the notice.

01:09:22How come you're not at the feast, Harry asked, well, I've lost most of my possessions, said

01:09:26Luna serenely, people take them and hide them you know, but as it's the last night I really

01:09:32do need them back, so I've been putting up signs.

01:09:35She gestured towards the notice board, upon which, sure enough, she had pinned a list

01:09:39of all her missing books and clothes, with a plea for their return, an odd feeling rose

01:09:44in Harry, an emotion quite different from the anger and grief that had filled him since

01:09:48Sirius' death.

01:09:49It was a few moments before he realised that he was feeling sorry for Luna.

01:09:54How come people hide your stuff, he asked frowning, oh, well, she shrugged, I think

01:09:59they think I'm a bit odd, you know, some people call me Loony Lovegood, actually.

01:10:04Harry looked at her, and the new feeling of pity intensified rather painfully.

01:10:08That's no reason for them to take your things, he said flatly, do you want help finding them?

01:10:12Oh, oh no, she said smiling at him, they'll come back, they always do in the end, it was

01:10:17just that I wanted to pack tonight, anyway, why aren't you at the feast?

01:10:22Harry shrugged, she didn't feel like it.

01:10:25No, said Luna, observing him with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes, I don't suppose you

01:10:30do?

01:10:31The man the Death Eaters killed was your godfather, wasn't he?

01:10:34Ginny told me.

01:10:35Harry nodded curtly, but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about

01:10:40Sirius, he had just remembered that she, too, could see festrals.

01:10:44Have you?

01:10:45He began, I mean, who?

01:10:47Has anyone you know never died?

01:10:49Yes, said Luna simply, my mother.

01:10:52She was quite extraordinary, a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment

01:10:58and one of her spells went rather badly one day.

01:11:01I was nine.

01:11:02I'm sorry, Harry mumbled, yes, it was rather horrible, said Luna conversationally, I still

01:11:08feel very sad about it sometimes, but I've still got Dad, and anyway, it's not as though

01:11:12I'll never see Mum again, is it?

01:11:14Uh, isn't it? said Harry uncertainly.

01:11:17She shook her head in disbelief.

01:11:19Oh, come on, you heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?

01:11:23You mean?

01:11:24In that room, with the archway, they were just lurking out of sight, that's all.

01:11:27You heard them?

01:11:29They looked at each other.

01:11:30Luna was smiling slightly.

01:11:32Harry did not know what to say or to think.

01:11:34Luna believed so many extraordinary things, yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind

01:11:38the veil too.

01:11:39Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff, he said.

01:11:43Oh no, said Luna, no, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it

01:11:48all to turn up.

01:11:49It always does in the end.

01:11:50Well, have a nice holiday, Harry.

01:11:52Yeah, uh, yeah, you too.

01:11:55She walked away from him, and as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight

01:11:58in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly.

01:12:02The journey home on the Hogwarts Express next day was eventful in several ways.

01:12:06Firstly, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, who had clearly been waiting all week for the opportunity

01:12:10to strike without teacher witnesses, attempted to ambush Harry halfway down the train as

01:12:14he made his way back from the toilet.

01:12:16The attack might have succeeded had it not been for the fact that they unwittingly chose

01:12:19to stage the attack right outside a compartment full of DA members, who saw what was happening

01:12:25through the glass and rose as one to rush to Harry's aid.

01:12:27By the time Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony

01:12:33Goldstein and Terry Boot had finished using a wide variety of the hexes and jinxes Harry

01:12:38had taught them, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle resembled nothing so much as three gigantic

01:12:42slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniform as Harry, Ernie and Justin hoisted them into the luggage

01:12:47rack and left them there to ooze.

01:12:49I must say, I'm looking forward to seeing Malfoy's mother's face when he gets off the

01:12:53train, said Ernie, with some satisfaction, as he watched Malfoy squirm above him.

01:12:58Ernie had never quite got over the indignity of Malfoy docking points from Hufflepuff during

01:13:03the brief spell as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad.

01:13:05Goyle's mum will be really pleased though, said Ron, who had come to investigate the

01:13:09source of the commotion.

01:13:10He's loads better looking now.

01:13:12Anyway, Harry, the food trolleys just stopped if you want anything.

01:13:16Harry thanked the others and accompanied Ron back to their compartment, where he bought

01:13:19a large pile of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties.

01:13:23Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet again, Ginny was doing a quiz in the Quibbler and

01:13:26Neville was stroking his Mimbleus Mimbletonia, which had grown a great deal over the year

01:13:31and now made odd crooning noises when touched.

01:13:35Harry and Ron whiled away most of the journey playing wizard chess while Hermione read out

01:13:39snippets from the Prophet.

01:13:41It was now full of articles about how to repel Dementors, attempts by the Ministry to track

01:13:45down Death Eaters and hysterical letters claiming that the writer had seen Lord Voldemort walking

01:13:50past their house that very morning.

01:13:52It hasn't really started yet, sighed Hermione gloomily, folding up the newspaper again,

01:13:57but it won't be long now.

01:13:58Hey Harry, said Ron softly, nodding towards the glass window onto the corridor.

01:14:04Harry looked around.

01:14:05Cho was passing, accompanied by Marietta Edgecombe, who was wearing a balaclava.

01:14:09Harry's and Cho's eyes met for a moment.

01:14:11Cho blushed and kept walking.

01:14:13Harry looked back down at the chessboard just in time to see one of his pawns chased off

01:14:17its square by Ron's knight.

01:14:19What's, uh, going on with you and her anyway?

01:14:22Ron asked quietly.

01:14:23Nothing, said Harry truthfully.

01:14:24I, uh, heard she's going out with someone else now, said Hermione tentatively.

01:14:29Harry was surprised to find that this information did not hurt at all.

01:14:32Wanting to impress Cho seemed to belong to a past that was no longer quite connected

01:14:36with him.

01:14:37So much of what he had wanted before Sirius's death felt that way these days.

01:14:41The week that had elapsed since he had last seen Sirius seemed to have lasted much, much

01:14:46longer.

01:14:47It stretched across two universes, the one with Sirius in it, and the one without.

01:14:50You're well out of it, mate, said Ron forcefully.

01:14:53I mean, she's quite good looking and all that, but you want something a bit more cheerful.

01:14:58She's probably cheerful enough with someone else, said Harry shrugging.

01:15:01So who's she with now anyway?

01:15:03Ron asked Hermione.

01:15:04But it was Ginny who answered.

01:15:06Michael Corner, she said.

01:15:07Michael, but, said Ron, craning around in his seat to stare at her.

01:15:11But you were going out with him.

01:15:12Not anymore, said Ginny resolutely.

01:15:15He didn't like Gryffindor beating Ravenclaw at Quidditch and got really sulky, so I ditched

01:15:19him and he ran off to comfort Cho instead.

01:15:21She scratched her nose absently with the end of her quill, turned the quibbler upside down

01:15:25and began marking her answers.

01:15:27Ron looked highly delighted.

01:15:29Well, I always thought you was a bit of an idiot, he said, prodding his queen forwards

01:15:33towards Harry's quivering castle.

01:15:35Good for you.

01:15:36Just choose someone better next time.

01:15:38He cast Harry an oddly furtive look as he said it.

01:15:41Well, I've chosen Dean Thomas.

01:15:44Would you say he's better?

01:15:45Asked Ginny vaguely.

01:15:46What?

01:15:47Shouted Ron, upending the chessboard.

01:15:49Cruikshanks went plunging after the pieces and Hedwig and Pigwidgeon twittered and hooted

01:15:53angrily from over her head.

01:15:56As the train slowed down in the approach to King's Cross, Harry thought he had never wanted

01:16:00to leave it less.

01:16:01He even wondered, fleetingly, what would happen if he simply refused to get off, but remained

01:16:05stubbornly sitting there until the 1st of September when it would take him back to Hogwarts.

01:16:10When it finally puffed to a standstill, however, he lifted down Hedwig's cage and prepared

01:16:14to drag his trunk from the train as usual.

01:16:17When the ticket inspector signalled to Harry, Ron and Hermione that it was safe to walk

01:16:21through the magical barrier between platforms 9 and 10, however, he found a surprise awaiting

01:16:26him on the other side, a group of people standing there to greet him who he had not expected

01:16:30at all.

01:16:31There was Mad-Eye Moody, looking quite as sinister with his bowler hat pulled low over

01:16:35his magical eye as he would have done without it, his gnarled hands clutching a long staff,

01:16:40his body wrapped in voluminous travelling cloak.

01:16:43Tonks stood just beside him, her bright bubblegum pink hair gleaming in the sunlight flittering

01:16:48through the dirty glass of the station ceiling, wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright

01:16:52purple t-shirt bearing the legend The Weird Sisters.

01:16:56Mr Tonks was Lupin, his face pale, his hair greying, a long and Fred Bear overcoat covering

01:17:02a shabby jumper and trousers.

01:17:04At the front of the group stood Mr and Mrs Weasley, dressed in their muggle best, the

01:17:09Fred and Fred and George, who were both wearing brand new jackets and some lurid green scaly

01:17:14material.

01:17:15Ron.

01:17:16Ginny, called Mrs Weasley, hurrying forwards and hugging her children tightly.

01:17:19Oh, and Harry, dear, how are you?

01:17:21Fine, lied Harry, as she pulled him into a tight embrace.

01:17:25Over her shoulder he saw Ron, goggling at the twins' new clothes.

01:17:28What are they supposed to be? he asked, pointing at the jackets.

01:17:32Finest dragon skin, little bro, said Fred, giving his zip a little tweak.

01:17:36Business is booming, and we thought we'd treat ourselves.

01:17:38Hello, Harry, said Lupin, as Mrs Weasley let go of Harry and turned to greet Hermione.

01:17:43Hi, said Harry.

01:17:45I didn't expect…

01:17:46What are you all doing here?

01:17:48Well, said Lupin, with a slight smile, we thought we might have a little chat with your

01:17:51aunt and uncle before letting them take you home.

01:17:55I don't know if that's a good idea, said Harry at once.

01:17:57Oh, I think it is, growled Moody, who had limped a little closer.

01:18:00That'll be them, will it, Potter?

01:18:03He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder, his magical eye was evidently peering through

01:18:07the back of his head and his bowler hat.

01:18:09Harry leaned an inch or so to the left to see where Mad Eye was pointing, and there,

01:18:13sure enough, were the three Dursleys, who looked positively appalled to see Harry's

01:18:17reception committee.

01:18:19Ah, Harry, said Mr Weasley, turning from Hermione's parents, who he had just greeted enthusiastically

01:18:26and who were now taking it in turns to hug Hermione.

01:18:29Well, shall we do it then?

01:18:30Yeah.

01:18:31I reckon so, Arthur, said Moody.

01:18:33He and Mr Weasley took the lead across the station towards the Dursleys, who were apparently

01:18:37rooted to the floor.

01:18:39Hermione disengaged herself gently from her mother to join the group.

01:18:43Good afternoon, said Mr Weasley pleasantly to Uncle Vernon, as he came to a halt right

01:18:47in front of him.

01:18:49You might remember me.

01:18:50My name's Arthur Weasley.

01:18:51As Mr Weasley had single-handedly demolished most of the Dursleys' living room two years

01:18:55previously, Harry would have been very surprised if Uncle Vernon had forgotten him.

01:18:59Sure enough, Uncle Vernon turned a deeper shade of puce and glared at Mr Weasley, but

01:19:03chose not to say anything, partly perhaps because the Dursleys were outnumbered two

01:19:08to one.

01:19:09Aunt Petunia looked both frightened and embarrassed.

01:19:12She kept glancing around as though terrified somebody she knew would see her in such company.

01:19:17Dudley, meanwhile, seemed to be trying to look small and insignificant, a feat at which

01:19:21he was failing extravagantly.

01:19:23We thought, uh, we just have a few words with you about Harry, said Mr Weasley, still smiling.

01:19:28Yeah, growled Moody, about how he's treated when he's at your place.

01:19:33Uncle Vernon's moustache seemed to bristle with indignation, possibly because the bowler

01:19:37hat gave him the entirely mistaken impression that he was dealing with a kindred spirit.

01:19:42He addressed himself to Moody.

01:19:43I'm not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house.

01:19:48Expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley, growled Moody.

01:19:52Anyway, that's not the point, interjected Tonks, whose pink hair seemed to offend Aunt

01:19:56Petunia more than all the rest put together, for she closed her eyes rather than look at

01:20:01her.

01:20:02The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry, and make no mistake, we'll hear

01:20:07about it, added Lupin pleasantly.

01:20:09Yes, said Mr Weasley, even if you won't let Harry use the felly-tone.

01:20:13Telephone, whispered Hermione.

01:20:15Yeah, if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer

01:20:20to, said Moody.

01:20:22Uncle Vernon swelled ominously.

01:20:23His sense of outrage seemed to outweigh even his fear of the bunch of oddballs.

01:20:27Are you threatening me, sir? he said, so loudly that passers-by actually turned to stare.

01:20:33Yes, I am, said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this

01:20:37fact so quickly.

01:20:39Do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated, barked Uncle Vernon?

01:20:43Well, said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving, magical

01:20:49eye, Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley.

01:20:54Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley.

01:20:57He turned from Uncle Vernon to Harry.

01:20:59So, Potter, give us a shout if you need us.

01:21:03If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along.

01:21:08Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously.

01:21:10It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbours would say

01:21:13if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path.

01:21:16Bye then, Potter, said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.

01:21:22Take care, Harry, said Lupin quietly.

01:21:24Keep in touch.

01:21:25Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can, Mrs Weasley whispered, hugging

01:21:29him again.

01:21:30We'll see you soon, mate, said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.

01:21:34Real soon, Harry, said Hermione earnestly.

01:21:36We promise.

01:21:38Harry nodded.

01:21:39He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged

01:21:44there, on his side.

01:21:45Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station

01:21:51towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in

01:21:56his wake.

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