[FIC] What Secrets Keep - R - S/R - 16/16+epi
Title: What Secrets Keep
Series: What...
Author: jenexell
Pairings and Characters:Sirius/Remus (implied past relationship), Harry, Ron, Hermione, Pettigrew (the usual suspects)
Rating: R - Some not so pleasant imagery here and there.
Disclaimer: If this was real, I wouldn't share. As its not, I'm sharing with no personal gain or profit, other than perhaps to feed my attention whore complex. non-recognisable elements are mine! plagiarists will be eaten alive by weasels. Much information has been gleaned from the books (obviously), films, various Wiki's, other internet sources and my font of all HP knowledge ttfan.
Distribution: My Journal (jenexell), and quite a few other places too. (attention whore complex). If you want it, link back to my journal, don't steal its naughty.
Warnings: None for now.
Spoilers: Everything and nothing. Set during Book 2, Chamber of Secrets, but does diverge quite wildly from cannon in some respects. References pretty much everything, although I'm trying to ignore Pottermore because she keeps messing up my backstories!
Summary:Au Book 2. Sometimes there are just too many secrets, and sometimes all it takes to start unravelling them is a failed spell from a broken wand. But with secrets, lies, half truths, mysteries and a giant snake in the pipework, who can be believed?
Previous Parts:
::Prologue::1::2::3::4::5::6::7::8::9::10::11::12::13::14::15
Chapter Sixteen - Glorious Hope.
The first thing Harry was aware of when he woke up was that someone was shaking his shoulder.
The second was that someone was calling his name.
The third was that his rear end, shoulders and one leg were completely numb.
“Blimey Harry, have you been there all night?”
Blinking a little owlishly, Harry looked up, straightened his glasses that had somehow found themselves twisted half way round his head, and attempted to make his brain work. Slowly, a dark haired boy with unfortunate ears and teeth came into focus. “Neville?”
“You’ve got to be aweful cramped.” Neville winced in Sympathy. “Why didn’t you go to bed?”
“Must have...” Harry cracked a large yawn, “dozed off. What...” He yawned again and scrubbed at one eye under his glasses, “time is it?”
“Almost six.” Neville supplied helpfully. “Professor Sprout showed me the school’s Creeping Bellwart yesterday. She said if I made it down to the greenhouses early enough this morning, I could watch it bloom. It only blooms three days a year, right at dawn, and when it does it tinkles like thousands of tiny bells. How amazing is that? Want to come?”
Frowning slightly, Harry squinted at his dorm mate and slowly shook his head. It wasn’t that a magical plant that tinkled like bells didn’t sound interesting, because it did sound interesting enough that on any other day he might have been tempted to tag along, it was just that his mind was waking up. And as it woke up, the events of the last couple of days were beginning to register.
So as Neville shrugged and got on with getting ready for the day, Harry found himself slowly, painfully and stiffly uncurling from the window nook and stumbling towards his own bed, his mind racing.
Sirius.
No news was good news right? Surely if Sirius Black had been recaptured it would be a big deal. There would have been all kinds of Ministry people swarming the school. He would have known about it.
Right?
Unless they whisked him away quietly.
Harry’s gut twisted as he sat on the edge of his bed.
He didn’t really notice the extreme pins and needles that scorched through his limbs. He didn’t notice as Neville made to leave.
“Hey Harry. There’s a note here for you. Looks like someone slipped it under the door.”
Looking up, Harry frowned. “Really?”
Neville shrugged and walked over, passing Harry the note. “Are you sure you don’t want to come? If you get changed quickly we could still be there in time.”
Shaking his head distractedly, Harry didn’t take his eyes off the note, so missed Neville’s last shrug as he turned and left, leaving Harry alone with his note and a sleeping Ron and Seamus.
Turning the folded parchment over in his hands, Harry tried to work out if he recognised the handwriting. It wasn’t any of his friends, or any of the teachers. Or at least he didn’t think so. All it said on outside was ‘Mr Harry Potter’.
Unfolded the paper wasn’t anything special either, but it was curious. It wasn’t particularly big, about the size of a greetings card.
And on it were a set of directions.
~HpɸqH~
“And you have no idea who left it for you?”
Hurrying down the Grand Staircase, Harry shook his head at Hermione’s question.
Having woken Ron up and badgered him until he finally got out of bed, they’d been on their way to see what it was Harry had been given directions to, when they’d found Hermione in the common room, clearly having been there some time.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Was all she’d said, and in that moment she and Harry had shared a moment of pure silent understanding. While Ron was working on the premise that Dumbledore would sort everything out, - having Sirius arrested if he deserved it, and setting him free if he didn’t, once and for all making the decision Ron himself couldn’t quite make - Hermione, like Harry was convinced of Sirius’ innocence, and not so convinced that it was that simple.
“Well I think it’s awfully strange. Don’t you?” Hermione continued thoughtfully. “I mean, who would send someone a note with directions, but not tell them what they were directions to?”
“Maybe someone who thinks you’re looking for something?” Ron chipped in sleepily.
“Well that’s the thing isn’t it?” Hermione shot back. “It’s not like Harry’s been wandering around for days asking where something is. and why not leave their name? I just think it’s terribly suspicious, that’s all. We should be careful.”
“I know that Hermione.” Harry sighed as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. “But what if it’s important. What if it’s Sirius?”
Ron snorted and at the unimpressed looks from both Harry and Hermione he shrugged. “What? It’s funny. Sirius. Serious.”
“Honestly Ronald” Hermione sighed, before deliberately turning her back to him so she was facing Harry. “Where now?”
Looking at the parchment, Harry bit his lip for a moment before pointing down one of the corridors. “Down here I think. There should be staircase on the left somewhere.”
Quickly and quietly, the trio followed the directions finding the staircase indicated on the parchment and leaving it two levels down.
“Bloody Hell.” Ron Muttered as they made their way down the dingy corridor. “I didn’t even know any of this was here. Where are we anyway?”
“The lower levels.” Hermione supplied knowingly. “There’s a lot of disused classrooms and offices down here.”
“Why aren’t they used?” Harry found himself asking curiously as he peered through the crack of a partly open door.
“Curriculum changes.” Hermione shrugged. “They used to teach all kinds of other subjects here in the past, Necromancy, Battle Magics, Cartography, Latin, Greek, Needlepoint...”
“Needlepoint?” Ron scoffed incredulously. “Who the hell needed to know needlepoint?”
“At one time it was seen as a mark of refinement amongst women of certain class.” Hermione supplied like Ron was being deliberately obtuse.
“Why did they stop?” Harry asked distractedly. The directions weren’t the easiest to follow, and the further away from familiar ground they went, the more nervous he felt.
Hermione cast Ron one last pointed look before stepping closer to Harry. “Some subjects went out of fashion. Others were banned by the Ministry.”
“Necromancy.” Ron nodded firmly. “Everyone knows that’s dark magic. Not to mention creepy. All those corpses and zombies.”
“Shhh.” Harry quieted them. “The room we need should be just down here.” Moving as quietly as possible, Harry pressed on down the hallway, looking up at the door numbers and signs as he passed. He was looking for one in particular.
It wasn’t long before he began to hear voices. Muffled voices, but voices none the less. They were definitely getting close.
“There’s someone here.” Hermione whispered close up behind Harry.
“Do you think its some kind of trap?”Ron murmured worriedly. “I’m not sure this was a good idea Harry.”
“Come on.” Harry shook his head and pressed closer. “Someone obviously wanted me to find something here. I think I need to find out what it is.”
Pulling out his wand, Harry cautiously moved on, freezing as the voices stopped abruptly. When nothing else happened, he stepped closer to the nearest door, and after checking the sign he lay his hand on the old wood with its peeling varnish and gave it a small push. Not enough to really open it, but enough to give him a gap to peer through.
For a moment all he could see was a dusty old office. Then a face appeared in his line of sight. Right up against the crack in the door.
“Ya-aaah!” he yelped in fright. Stumbling backwards, he scrambled to hold his wand out in front of him even as Ron and Hermione leapt behind him.
The door opened. And revealed none other than Remus Lupin, an expression on his face that was part amused, part chastising.
“Harry.” Lupin noted calmly.
“Mr Lupin!” Hermione blurted out excitedly.
“Hermione,” Lupin nodded, then flicking his gaze to Ron and nodded again. “Ron.” Shaking his head a little chuff of laugher escaped him. “Might I suggest you three, that if you’re going to try and sneak up on people, you might want to be a touch quieter about it.”
Looking abashed, all three dropped their heads.
A soft exhalation and Lupin took a step back holding the door open. “Well you found us, you might as well come in.
“Us?” Harry’s face instantly brightened as he stepped forward, then looking past Lupin, he grinned. “Sirius!”
Standing in the middle of the room, Sirius startled a moment, then on seeing Harry charge towards him, he opened his arms. Harry’s head barely came up to his breastbone, but it didn’t stop him wrapping his arms tightly around his young godson. “Harry.”
Harry stiffened the moment Sirius’ arms closed around him. This was new, and slightly strange. He hadn’t thought about it when he’d seen Sirius, he’d just run. But it was Sirius, and it felt oddly right. Relaxing he let himself breathe a little easier, and as Sirius pulled back, resting his hands on Harry’s shoulders, Harry grinned up at him. “You’re still here.”
Sirius nodded stiffly, and his expression was pained. He seemed to be fighting himself, and it was a battle he eventually lost as he let out a pained groan. “What were you thinking!”
“What?” Harry yelped in confusion, pulling back more but unable to remove himself from Sirius’ grip.
“You could have died! You almost did die from what McGonagall tells us! What on this earth possessed you to go chasing after a Basilisk!?” Sirius ranted in dismay.
“Sirius... calmly.” Remus cautioned, stepping up to the pair and laying comforting hand on Sirius’ back.
Taking a deep breath, Sirius dropped his head, letting Harry’s shoulders go. As alarming as the turn of events was, Harry found himself feeling strangely bereft at the loss of contact.
Taking another breath, Sirius got down on one knee so he had to look up to see Harry’s face. Reaching out again, he took Harry by the upper arms. “Harry, I know... I know that you barely know me. I know that I haven’t been there for you so far. But you have to understand, that doesn’t mean Remus and I don’t care. We do care, and when we heard about what happened. It frightened us Harry. We didn’t know any of it. You didn’t say anything. If you had, we could have helped.”
Harry shifted his gaze away uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at the two adults in the room. He was used to hearing lectures from teachers - he was used to McGonagall’s exasperation and Dumbledore’s knowing looks and proud amusement - he was used to being yelled at by the Dursley’s, but this was something different and it made something new and unpleasant coil in his stomach.
“We did try Mr Black.” Hermione spoke up a little plaintively. “After Ginny was taken I tried to come and find you but...”
“Bloody Filch caught her and took her to McGonagall. Then Dumbledore came back, and by then it was all over.” Ron finished for her, folding his arms. He didn’t add, but Harry heard nonetheless, that they weren’t entirely sure they could trust Sirius then.
Or at least Ron hadn’t been. Harry had been sure, he just hadn’t considered going to them for help. He was the one helping them. Or at least, that’s how it had felt at the time.
With a sigh, Sirius dropped his head forward then looked up again, cupping Harry’s face in his hands with a wry chuckle. “I want to help. No matter what it is, if you’re in trouble I want to know about it. Can you do that for me? Can you let me help?”
Harry nodded slowly, finally returning his gaze to Sirius’ earnest one. Then he bit his lip. “Does that mean you’re free now?”
Shaking his head, Sirius sighed sadly. “It’s not quite as simple as that.” His brow creasing in confusion, Harry opened his mouth to question him, but Sirius cut him off. “I will be. But it takes a bit more than convincing Dumbledore to make it official.”
“He should be talking to the Minister of Magic even as we speak.” Remus chipped in with a reassuring look. “We’ll know more after that. In the meantime, Dumbledore has offered Sirius, offered us both, safe harbour here in the school.”
“Why do you need safe harbour?” Harry looked up at Remus in confusion, and wasn’t obviously to the way Sirius’ head snapped around to look at him to.
A small shake of Remus’ head, a roll of Sirius’ eyes and then Harry’s godfather turned back to him. “Remus could get into a lot of trouble for helping me. Until I’m officially cleared, it’s best if Remus keeps a low profile. Just in case.”
“Oh.” Harry replied a little dumbly, looking worriedly between his godfather and his friend.
Sitting back on his heels and clapping his hands together, Sirius broke the silence that had fallen. “While we wait for news, why don’t you three sit down tell us your side of the Chamber of Secrets story hmm?”
“And while you’re at it.” Remus followed on, crossing to a dust sheet covered armchair and sitting down, “I’m quite curious to know why Professor McGonagall thinks you’ve made yourself an enemy in Lucius Malfoy.”
“Its... a long story.” Harry winced uncomfortably, stepping back slightly as Sirius stood up and threw himself to lounge in another chair.
Spreading his hands, Sirius grinned. “And we have lots of time.”
Looking back at his friends who in Ron’s case just shrugged, but in Hermione’s case grinned hugely and nodded, Harry moved towards the empty couch and sitting a little awkwardly, began his tale.
“Well it sort of started over the summer, you see there was this house-elf, called Dobby and he...”
Once he got started it all sort of flowed. He skimmed over the details when it came to Dobby’s first appearance at the Dursley’s - he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to tell Sirius about them, at least not yet. But he told him about being blocked from getting onto Platform 9 3/4, about taking Mr Weasley’s car (something that greatly interested Sirius until Harry mentioned the car seemed to have gone wild, and then Sirius went oddly quiet about it). He talked about Dobby being the one to enchant the bludger that had broken his arm, and Lockhart’s failed attempt to heal it. He talked about finding the first message from the Heir of Slytherin and about the Polyjuice potion, which made Sirius and Remus share look that was both knowing and wistful. He tried not to talk about Pettigrew mainly because he didn’t want to talk about him, but also because one brief mention had made both men get angry.
He tried to make it all make sense, and Ron and Hermione jumped in a lot, explaining things and pointing out things he’d missed. One thing he definitely left out, was his ability to speak parseltongue, but unfortunately it appeared McGonagall had already shared that with the two men, because they brought it up. But contrary to what he’d expected, Sirius hadn’t seemed or sounded disgusted when they talked about it, only concerned. And angry. Although apparently not at Harry himself, but at Voldermort. Which made sense, even if a part of Harry wasn’t entirely convinced Sirius’ anger wasn’t in some part directed his way. After all, he was apparently carrying around the powers of the man who had killed Sirius’ best friend. That couldn’t be easy to deal with.
The only time the two men seemed to differ in their reactions to what they heard was when Harry talked about Dobby. While Remus seemed curious and confused by the house-elf, Sirius seemed convinced the elf was up to something.
Even when Harry told him about how he’d tricked Malfoy into freeing him.
“So just so we’re clear.” Sirius drawled a little darkly. “That elf, Malfoy’s elf, stole your mail and made you think your friends had forgotten you, got you into trouble at home, tried to stop you getting on the Hogwarts Express which landed you in even worse trouble here at school, then he set a rogue bludger on you and broke your arm, tried to convince you to leave the school, which should be the safest place for you although I’m beginning to doubt that right now, and then you... just decide to set him free?”
“He was trying to save my life.” Harry argued back vehemently. “He didn’t want me to come to school this year because he knew Malfoy was going to plant the diary on someone so the chamber could be opened again. He was trying to protect me! Besides I think he did actually save my life after I freed him.”
“How so?” Remus questioned with a frown.
“Malfoy was going to curse me I think.” Harry shrugged awkwardly, looking away. “He was really angry and he raised his wand and shouted something, and Dobby jumped in front me. It was amazing, he blew Malfoy right down the hall.”
“Can you remember what he shouted?” Sirius asked urgently.
His face turned slightly green when Harry replied. “He didn’t finish, but it started with something like Avada?”
“Harry.” Remus suddenly spoke up again, also looking slightly unwell and his tone grave. “If what you say is true then that elf did indeed save your life. There is only one curse that begins with that word. and it has but one purpose. To kill.”
As Remus spoke, beside Harry, Hermione was muttering something under her breath. It sounded like ‘Avada, avada, avada...Ka...
“Miss Granger.” And old and rich sounding voice suddenly made everyone startle and jump to their feet, turning to the doorway where Dumbledore stood. When he’d entered Harry didn’t know, and given the looks on both Sirius’ and Remus’ faces he doubted they knew either. “It would be best if you did not finish that incantation. Unless you wish to suffer a fate Sirius can attest to being worse than death.”
Hermione blinked owlishly at the Headmaster for a moment then ducked her head as Remus and Sirius both stepped forward.
“What news?” Remus asked.
Dumbledore didn’t speak for a moment, merely looked between the five other people in the room, lingering longest on Sirius and Harry, before turning his gaze back to Remus ahd shaking head. “Not what we had been hoping for I’m afraid.”
“What?!” Harry couldn’t help butting in. “But Sirius is innocent!”
“Yes.” Dumbledore agreed. “However the Minister of Magic is not convinced. Without his assurance that he would be prepared to reopen the investigation or give Sirius fair trial I could not risk offering what evidence we have without revealing Sirius’ location or the identities of those who had been aiding him.” At this remark he peered pointedly at Harry Ron and Hermione, “However without this evidence I had nothing to offer him to change his opinion. As you are no doubt aware Sirius, Cornelius Fudge was present at your arrest, and believes strongly in your guilt. Alas, now that Pettigrew has once again vanished, he is even more convinced of it. I am afraid he believes, that I have been remiss in my duty in protecting Pettigrew and that you have succeeded where he believes you failed previously.”
“But that’s nonsense!” Hermione argued. “Pettigrew isn’t dead!”
“But we can’t prove that.” Sirius groaned. “The filthy rat’s done it again. He’s gone to ground and now everyone will think he’s dead and I’ve killed him.”
“All is not lost Sirius.” Dumbledore hastened to reassure. “He may yet be convinced, and if not him, then others members of the Wizengamot. There are other avenues which can be pursued, but it will take time.”
“So what are we supposed to do until then?” Remus asked in exasperation.
“Well firstly, I believe there are three second years who should be in lessons.” Dumbledore turned his gaze once more on Harry, Ron and Hermione who looked back sheepishly. But Dumbledore didn’t look cross, more like amused. “and then I believe, I may have an idea.”
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