Chapter 5:  Back to the Sources

 

Back to The Borrow, Harry ran up to Ron’s room, and locked himself in order to read Dumbledore’s letter. Hermione discreetly gave Ron a significant look and pulled him to the kitchen.

The letter was undated.

 

Dear Harry,

 

If you received this letter from my brother Aberforth’s hand, it means that my departure had been somehow a little precipitated. But be assured, as I once told you, that for ordered people, death is but the next great adventure.

You know now why Voldemort is indestructible, and you also  know how to vanquish him. Don’t forget that Love is your strength; it’s the only weapon against which Voldemort would be powerless. And bear in mind that help would be given to anyone who asks for it, and that I would only truly have left, when none here are loyal to me.  I am always at your side.

I am confident in our victory.

Good luck to you, Harry.

 

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

 

P.S. There are Muggle style security devices at your chalet in Austria. The code is twice the date of your birth then your birth hour.

 

Harry fell down onto his bed, with his face in his pillow, and gave way to his sorrow. When Hermione brought up his meal, she found him in that position with the letter in his hand.

“Harry”, said Hermione kneeling down beside his bed, and putting a comforting hand round his shoulders.”I brought your meal.”

Harry sat up on his bed and gave her the letter.

Hermione read it slowly in silence.

“It’s a way for him to say Good Bye to you”, said Hermione after having read the letter through to the end, “so that his departure may not be too brutal to you. He certainly loved you very much.”

Hermione always proved to be thoughtful and understanding, Harry thought with gratitude. Ron just came into the room, bringing the dessert on a small plate.

“Well ?”, Ron asked in a carefree and rather tactless mood, “What did Dumbledore say in the letter ?”

Hermione gave him a reproachful look and handed him the letter. Ron read it straight through.

“It sounds perfectly like Dumbledore. That doesn’t get you anywhere !” Ron snapped, handing back the letter.

Harry took it and saw that the P.S. was no longer there, but said nothing. He started taking his meal.

“What’s the program for tomorrow ?” Ron inquired.

“I think I’ll go through Dumbledore’s book tonight”, replied Harry. “And tomorrow we’ll go to number twelve, Grimmauld Place to prepare the house for our settlement. And I’d like to go to Godric’s Hollow afterwards”.

“We’ll come with you”, said Hermione and Ron together.

And the three friends stayed late in the night, to read the book and discuss about the best way to dissimulate and protect magically the Head Quarters. They finally decided to adopt an associated way of protection and dissimulation which was to be performed by many persons, (here four people including Dobby. Yes, the elves were very magically powerful, but they only used magic when their masters allowed them to do so) each one with his own formula, and then to re-christen the house under another name.

 

***

 

Harry just woke up, when Hermione, already dressed, came into the room and went straight to the window to open it widely.

“Up to work ! You boys !”

Harry sat up in his bed:

“I’ve an idea”, then he called “Dobby !” and the elf  appeared from thin air in front of him.

“Mr Potter asks for Dobby ?”

“Could you prepare some sandwiches for us” asked Harry. “We’ll make a picnic, for you too, because I wish you to come with us, … in an hour …” added Harry.

“Yes, Sir !”.

The three friends came down and took their breakfast hastily.

“Mum ! Dobby has prepared sandwiches for us. Don’t wait for us for lunch, said Ron to Mrs Weasley.

“And where are you going ?” asked Mrs Weasley, then … “if I am allowed to know ?” she added with a mocking smile.

“We are going to Grimmauld Place”, answered Harry. “And Dobby will come with us. We’d like to prepare and re-name the Head Quarters for the Order.”

Then, each of them gave Mrs Weasley a kiss on the cheek.

“Dobby”, said Harry, “you’ll wait for us discreetly at Grimmauld Place. As for us, Ron, Hermione and I, we’ll go by the Muggle bus. No need for you to be there too early before us. OK ?”, added Harry.

“Yes, Sir ! Don’t be worried Mr Potter”, Dobby answered promptly.

 

***

 

The Muggle bus was very slow and not at all to Ron’s taste.

“Is it the way you travel ?” asked Ron in exasperation.

“Yes ! But we don’t fall over and get our neck broken !”, Hermione snapped back.

When they reached Grimmauld Place, which was deserted like most residential quarters, they all got down.

“I don’t see any number twelve !”,  Ron burst out looking desperate.

“It’s normal ! Wait for me here”, said Harry. “I’m the only one who can still see the number twelve.”

Harry went to the house and put his hand on the doorknob. He heard sounds from behind the door: “click ! click ! click ! click !” as if someone had just taken away the bars from inside. He went in and closed the door. Then with a wave of his wand and in turning a round on himself, he cast a curse to remove all the former formulas of dissimulation and protection, as was indicated in Dumbledore’s book. Then he went to the door, opened it and waved for his friends to come in.  From a branch on a leafy tree, Dobby dropped himself onto the ground with the picnic basket, and followed Hermione and Ron into the house. Harry then put back the bars on the door.

Harry cast a new curse of dissimulation in the same way in turning a round on himself. Then Hermione and Ron did the same thing, one after the other.

“Dobby ! You’ll cast a curse for the protection of the house too!”, said Harry.

Dobby didn’t expect to be asked to do such a thing, really very touched, and with tears in his eyes, he stood facing the main door, then with his two hands, he pushed in the air in front of him, as if he pushed out some one invisible, with a very concentrated expression on his face.

When he had finished, Harry asked:

“What’s the curse you’ve used, Dobby ?”

“It’s a curse of old magic, very old magic, which repels everyone who wants to enter the house with an ill intention towards my master. It’s a very powerful curse, and you must do it with love. If your mother was able to protect you by her sacrifice, Dobby’s curse will protect you in the same way, by love and with love.”

“Oh Dobby, it’s very kind of you”, said Harry and he lifted the elf up in the air, and gave him a kiss on each cheek.

Then Harry cast another spell pointing his wand on the door, and shouting with a firm voice: “WULFRIC”

“Well, I’ve just re-named the house “Wulfric”, said Harry “Dobby ! Would you like to be my Secret Keeper ?”

“Oh, Mr Potter ! Dobby is very honoured !”, replied the elf, … “Dobby will die in keeping your secret. Dobby will never betray you”, the elf added in a sob.

“Thank you, Dobby !”

Then Dobby turned a round on himself, and stopping before Hermione, he said: “Wulfric” then before Ron he said also “Wulfric”.

“Thank you, Dobby” said Hermione and Ron together.

“Dobby will do the cleaning of the house”, said the elf, running to the kitchen to hide his emotion.

“No, Dobby, we’ll go and choose our rooms first”

The house was very large. And it was the first time that Harry, Ron and Hermione visited the house thoroughly, on reconnaissance. On the ground floor, there were a living room, a dining room, a cavernous kitchen and toilets. On the second floor, there were four rooms, toilets and bathrooms, the third floor with as many rooms as the second one. And the attic, as large as the surface of the house with small windows in the roof, where were stocked upside down all that was no longer in use. They have decided to set up all their rooms on the second floor, with a library-living room for them, the third floor would be for the guests. The ground floor would be entirely kept for the Order of the Phoenix.

“Dobby, you’ll choose a room for you on the third floor”, Harry said.

“No, Dobby will not sleep in a room. Dobby will sleep in the cupboard under the staircase, and that will do for Dobby”.

“No, I want you to choose a proper chamber, so that you may have room to receive Winky when she comes to see you. OK ?” replied Harry. “And I want you to try to take away the big portrait of the lady in the first landing, if you can, because we’ve tried but have not been able to remove it. Tomorrow we’ll settle ourselves here, you’ll bring our things here, and don’t forget to give Winky permission to come and see you”.

In the cupboard under the stair, Harry found a brass plate with the name “BLACK” on it. He gave it to Dobby, asking him to change it into “WULFRIC”, and to place it on the outside of the entrance door.

Dobby prepared their meal. Harry found in the dresser the whole set of goblets in solid silver with the Black family’s crest. Surprised, Harry burst out:

“But, I thought that these had been stolen by Mundungus ? They are all still here ? The silverware too … I don’t understand ,” he added.

“Perhaps Dumbledore ordered him to restore them”, suggested Hermione.

“Perhaps … yes, because we have no other explanations”, replied Harry.

There were still some bottles of butter-beer in the cave. And they were happy to share their picnic with the feeling that their adult and independent life had just begun.

 

***

 

The three friends decided to Apparate to Godric’s Hollow.  They landed on the slope of a small hill dotted with pines. It was still early afternoon, during siesta hours. They saw at their feet a small village, with the spire of the village church, and its graveyard.  Behind them, mid way to the top of the hill and hidden behind a thick row of pines were the ruins of an old building. Something told Harry that this was the place where his parents had lived. A large path thickly overgrown by vegetation but might still be guessed, wounding its way to the foot of the hill, where two masonry posts and an imposing wrought iron gate were still undamaged. The three friends ran down to the gate, and Harry could read on a brass plate the inscription ‘Godric’s Hollow’. His heart began to beat in a disorderly manner and he again saw the scene of his parents’ murder flash in his mind. A combination of love for his parents and of fury against Voldemort overwhelmed him, and he had to lean against the post to pull himself together.

Hermione, always very attentive, put an arm on Harry’s shoulder, she remained silent for a while, and then with a timid voice, she asked:

“Are you alright… We are here with you.”

Ron remained silent, looking at him with compassion.

“It’s alright” replied Harry, then he stood up and they went back to the hill. The building must have been very important considering the large surface occupied by the rubble. There were two sections of wall forming a corner still partly up.

‘There must be something left here’, said Harry. If only I had a photo of the house I could have it rebuilt as it was before.

 

Then they began to remove little by little the layers of rubble with their wands. After many hours, their efforts were rewarded. In the bottom of the corner where the two sections of wall still remained up, they found a small piece of furniture, miraculously undamaged. It was a finely carved bedside table made in solid olive wood. In the drawer they found a small photo album, an ivory comb with a silver handle artistically worked with a floral pattern, a small oval pocket mirror in its silver frame and with a handle worked in the same style (‘surely they were my mother’s things’, Harry thought, happy to have some relics belonging to her), and some pieces of parchment. On one of these, in Sirius’s handwriting and bearing no date, they could read,:

 

« I don’t know what this may mean: Regulus seems to be preoccupied and very worried. I saw him today at my parent’s where I went to fetch some of my things. »

 

On another piece of parchment, also in Sirius’s handwriting:

 

« They’ve found Regulus’ corpse in the forest in Yorkshire, under the Dark Mark ! »

 

Harry emptied the contents of the drawer into his bag. They decided to hide the table behind the rubble, for the time being; they would come back to retrieve it after their visit to the graveyard. Then they went down the hill. They didn’t meet anyone on their way because the graveyard was on the outskirts of the village and they did not need to cross it. They didn’t waste much time to find out the tomb of Harry’s parents. It was a grey granite vault near other vaults bearing the same name “Potter”. Perhaps this part of the graveyard was reserved to the Potter’s family for there were still empty places in the surroundings. On the vault of James and Lily there was a bunch of garden flowers not yet really withered, in a round marble vase full of water.

‘Who placed flowers here?’ asked Harry.

But no one could give him an answer. Hermione, always full of delicacy, discreetly pulled Ron towards other tombs, leaving Harry alone to meditate on his parents’ one. When Harry stood up, the sun was already under the horizon. They returned in silence to the hill.

‘I must come back here again to find out who puts flowers on my parents’ tomb,’ said Harry, removing completely the drawer from the bedside table and giving it to Ron. Then, he took the table through the hole left by the drawer, and they Apparated to the Burrow.

 

Charlie came right at the moment when the inhabitants of The Burrow were gathering around the table for diner. Bill and Lupin’s state of health  were much better but they were still very weak and still had to take the Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour. The night before was a full moon one. At St Mungos’ Hospital, the healers moved Lupin into a special room with a double glass door to have a look on him, but Lupin didn’t transform.  They didn’t know how to explain that phenomenon, and thought that perhaps he was still too weak to transform.  Tonks hoped hard for a miracle. As for Bill, he was much better and might come back home soon.

Fleur’s confession letter was very moving, and had been integrally published by the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. On the other hand, the Ministry of Magic has already received thousands of petitions in Fleur’s favour, but Fleur has retrieved her smile only when Bill, who had sufficiently recovered to be able to speak, told her that she had been right in killing Greyback, and that if she had to do it over again, he would ask her to cast the Avada Kedavra curse against the werewolf a million times.

Mr Weasley had caught sight of Percy at the Ministry, but Percy avoided him as always, and Mr Weasley swore that he would never forgive Percy, for it was the second time that Bill was seriously wounded and that Percy had never tried to ask for news about his brother’s health.

“Perhaps he thought that in sending a present to Bill in that way, and every body should be thankful to him. He can wait a long time for a word of thanks !” said Mr Weasley.

“How sad !”, thought Harry.

Gabrielle was still at the Burrow. Fleur told them that Gabrielle had registered at Hogwarts this year, and she would be in the fifth year class, the same as if she returned to Beauxbatons.

“She’ll be the youngest in her class, she skipped one class at Beauxbatons last year”, Fleur said.

“A class below Ginny, and she is probably a very good student to have been able to skip one class !“,  Harry thought.

 

In the evening the three friends prepared their trunks for their moving the next day. Harry was glad that Ginny was not at The Burrow.  She was staying at Fred and George’s to give a hand to her brothers, because they were both very busy on their research to improve their Misleading Cloak.  They were suddenly becoming serious to Mr and Mrs Weasley’s great satisfaction and relief.

 

***

Chapter 6:  The Third Horcrux

 

The elves, because Winky had helped too, had done good work.  When Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived early the following day at Grimmauld Place, the house was spotlessly clean. The portrait of Sirius’ mother had been removed, wound and stocked in the attic. Their own things were respectively in their cupboards, the beds were prepared and clean. The photos of Harry’s parents were on the bedside table that Harry had fetched from Godric’s Hollow. These attentions touched Harry very much.

“We are in our home” burst out Ron happily.

“Where is your room, Dobby ?”, Harry asked.

“‘Dobby has chosen his room in the attic, Mr Potter.”

The three friends followed the elf to his “room”. The attic was separated by the load-bearing walls the same way as the other floors underneath but with an alley from one end to the other. Each room had only three walls, and no door. Dobby had cleared a small corner in the first room to place a childbed he had found in the attic. The roof was very low. At the further end of the room Harry had to kneel down to be able to move.

“Very well, Dobby”, Harry said. “But in the attic it’s very hot in summer, and very cold in winter.  We’ll improve your room, today, Dobby.”, then to Ron and Hermione, he went on: “We’ll do some kind of do-it-yourself work. We’ll install here a partition with a door, to turn it into a room apart. We’ll go to London in a D.I.Y shop and buy some wallpaper, insulation polystyrene plates for the walls and roof (which let see the tiles and beams), wooden boards for the partition, angle brackets to maintain it, and I would like to change this small skylight window into a double-glazing one… and … I think I’ll open an account in a Muggle bank and put there a small reserve of Muggle money. Well, we’ll go first to Gringotts”.

“Dobby,” said Harry to the elf, “we’ll go to London, during that time, you’ll try to clean your room, put all the other things in the other rooms of the attic, I mean except your bed, of course, OK ?”.

That evening, when the three friends went down to take their first dinner in their ‘home’, (Mrs Weasley had given them, on their departure, a great basket of provisions) Dobby’s room was unrecognisable. It looked like a doll’s room. The wallpaper, that Harry had chosen in a shade of light green and blue, reflected the sunset rays and flooded the room in a soothing light. The evening air that came through the brand new window refreshed the whole room with its summer flowered perfume. Hermione had found others pieces of furniture from a child-chamber to complete Dobby’s room: two small chairs, a small low table, a child rocking chair to relax, and a small cupboard.  She had also found, bed sheets and blankets, all clean, as they had been kept in their protective covers. Dobby thought he was dreaming !

“Oh, thank you Mr Potter, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley !” said the elf with watering eyes.

“I am glad that you like your room.  We’ll do the same for Winky in the attic above Ron’s room at The Burrow. OK ?”

After dinner, Ron relaxed in his armchair.

“Woouuawh ! We are really quiet in our home, just the three of us !”

“Ya !”, Harry replied absent-mindedly. He was checking and re-reading the various things and parchments he had found in the drawer of the Godric’s Hollow table. Then he stood up and went to have a look at the genealogical tree of the « Noble and Most Ancient House of Black ».

Ron paid no attention at all to the genealogical tree, he closed his eyes, and relaxed in his armchair, with his hands behind his head.

Hermione read her Daily Prophet of the day.

“What’s so interesting in that family tree of the Blacks ?” asked Ron, exasperated, and still keeping his eyes closed.

“I’m wondering whether R.A.B. was not simply Regulus Black ? He might have a second Christian name with an «A»,” replied Harry from the drapes of the embroidered genealogical tree.

In a jump, Hermione and Ron rushed to Harry…

“Here the name of Regulus bears no second Christian name”, said Hermione who first found the place of Regulus on the embroidered tree.

“I see here that they had a grandfather of the name Arcturus”, said Harry. “But I remember that Sirius told me about an uncle of his whom he liked best and who left him at his death a nice fortune. That uncle must be here on that burnt spot, and … er …what was his name ?”

“Alphard”, said Ron. “Dad liked very much that cousin Alphard, he often spoke about him.”

“Yes, Alphard ! Suppose that R.A.B. is Regulus Arcturus Black, or Regulus Alphard Black.  That sounds perfectly well, and moreover he was a Death Eater in close contact with Voldemort ! Where could he have hidden the locket  ?”

“The glass-fronted cabinets we’ve cleaned !” burst out Hermione after a moment of reflection.

But the cabinets were empty when they went to check.

“It was Mundungus who stole them all ! To whom could he have sold it ?” said Harry, looking really desperate.

“There might be a chance that the Black family’s elf, I mean Kreacher, had picked it up and hidden it in his ‘den’ !’, said Hermione, suddenly happy at remembering this detail, which had just flashed back in her mind.

And the three friends, full of hope ran to the cupboard behind the kitchen where the boiler was, and where Kreacher had fitted out his ‘den’. It was a true hovel. A jumble of assorted rags and smelly old blankets were piled on the floor. In a far corner glinted small objects and coins that Harry guessed Kreacher had saved, magpie-like, from Sirius’s purge of the house. With the long chimney tongs Hermione withdrew everything that was in the cupboard and displayed the lot on the floor.  There was everything: Kreacher’s blankets, mostly all the ornaments from the glass cabinets, frames for photos, pipes, jewellery cases, medals of the Order of Merlin, rings, the photo of Bellatrix, … but Salazar Slytherin’s locket wasn’t there.

Disappointed, Harry asked Dobby:

‘Could you please, put all theses ornaments in the drawers below the glass-fronted cabinets, as we don’t know exactly, perhaps one of these things is the one we should have looked for. Not the photo, you throw away the photo.  As for the blankets, you throw them away or wash them and keep them in the attic, just as you like’.

When Dobby took up the blankets to fold them, something glittering fell onto the floor.

“Wait a minute, Dobby,” said Harry, and he bent down to pick it up. “Woouuawh ! we’ve got it. Hermione, Ron, we’ve got it !”, Harry cried out because his friends had already left the kitchen. “We’ll go to our living room,” Harry proposed, and the three friends went up to their living room, closely followed by Dobby with a tray and three cups of hot tisane.

“It’s definitely the locket that I’ve seen in the Pensieve”, Harry said.

It was in heavy gold with a tiny snake worked in relief in the form of an S on the front face.

“We’ve all tried to open it but we couldn’t. Do you remember ?” Harry went on.

They passed the locket from one hand to another to examine it under every angle.

“It’s very finely worked. So fine. Such a tiny snake, yet we could see its scales glitter.  It must have been made by the Goblins.  Only the Goblin-made objects could reach such perfection.  If you have examined auntie Muriel’s Tiara, it’s of an incredible keenness”, Ron said while passing the locked to Hermione.

“We must now think over about how we can destroy it”, said Harry.

“First, we should get for each of us, a pair of gloves, thick ones, in double layer of dragon skin, if possible”, Hermione suggested.

“Yes. You are thinking of Dumbledore’s wounded hand ?” asked Harry, “and that makes me think that each of us should have a Bezoar, and we should keep it permanently in our pocket.  I think that if I had had a Bezoar that night, perhaps I could have saved Dumbledore, or at least slowed down the effect of the poison”, Harry added sadly.

“That is a very good idea” said Hermione. “I’ll note down on a book every time we find out what we need, and so when we go to Diagon Alley we will not forget anything” added Hermione, placing the locket on the table, and standing up to go and fetch a note book.

The letter ‘S’ of the locket, under the flickering light of the candles in the living room, seemed like alive, an idea flashed in Harry’s head. He jumped up.

“Come here, you two, and stand behind me”. He drew out his wand and kept it ready in his hand. Then he scrutinized the locket, and spoke in Parseltongue, the snake language:

“Open up !”

And the locket opened up as if by magic. A wisp of dark smoke rose from the opened locket, on which Harry pointed his wand crying stately in a sharp voice:

“Avada Kedavra !”

A green flash shot out from Harry’s wand and stroke right in the middle of the smoke wisp, which broke into thousands of pieces then it disappeared in thin air.

“I think that you’ve just destroyed the third Horcrux”, said Hermione.

“Yes, I hope so”,  replied Harry.

 

That night, again, Harry saw in his dreams, mysterious objects that he could not quite reach, though Dumbledore helpfully offered Harry a rope that turned into snakes the moment he began to climb … He woke up in the middle of the night and lay awake thinking about the significance of that nightmare he had seen again and again.

 

Little by little, the life of the three friends at Grimmauld Place got itself organized. Hermione had drawn up a very strict timetable: which time for the training of new spells, which other for reading. Each one had a book to read, to dissect what was interesting and important in it, then to discuss together.

As for Dobby, he received an order from Harry, he was to learn how to write perfectly the word ‘WULFRIC’ in capitals. As the next meeting of the Order drew closer, and Harry would have to give to each member of the Order the new name on a piece of parchment so as to allow them to come to the re-christened Head Quarters. Harry feared that people might guess by a bad handwriting that Dobby was the Secret Keeper.  Dobby applied himself to the task with all his good will.

 

It was the last meeting of the Order before the opening term of Hogwarts, and it still took place at Hogwarts.  The meeting was cheerful and animated because Bill and Lupin were back.

As no member felt himself to be up to the task to present himself as candidate to the post of Leader, the Assembly decided that they would elect a coordinator and that all decisions of the Order would be taken after debate and vote. By the end of the meeting, Aberforth Dumbledore was elected Coordinator.

Harry distributed to every member of the Order a specially folded piece of parchment in which Dobby had beautifully written the word ‘WULFRIC’. Harry warned that the parchment would destroy itself two seconds after opening (which was a piece of magic performed by Dobby).

Fleur had officially been cleared of by the Ministry, she had received piles of individual letters of congratulations and thanks from everywhere, and even wonderful wedding presents from unknown people.

 

Before the beginning of terms at Hogwarts, as Harry had promised, the three friends had had time to convert the attic at The Burrow into a room for Winky as nice and cosy as the one of Dobby .

 

***

Chapter 7:  Back to Hogwarts

 

Time was passing quickly and the preparations for the beginning of terms were under way. Professor McGonagall informed Harry that she had found for him a classroom under the dormitory of the Gryffindor Tower with an adjacent suite like the specific classrooms belonging to a professor.  She had been careful to conceal it, giving it a name which was the password, and made Harry the Secret Keeper.  Dobby was allowed to come to Hogwarts to serve Harry but he would stay in the quarter reserved to the elves, and work in the kitchen. Harry arrived at Hogwarts in the afternoon of the first of September, before the other students, by Apparition. He landed discreetly outside the castle, wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Harry had bought a brand new small suitcase to put part of his things. He marked it in Hermione’s name and Hermione would take it with her as part of her own things The rest of his things Harry kept in his bag, hidden under his Invisibility Cloak.

Ron and Hermione had received letters from Hogwarts naming them ‘Head Boy’ and’ Head Girl’.  That was a very good piece of news for them, for it meant that they would be able to move freely in the school, even during ‘curfew’ hours.

For Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Gabrielle and all the members of the Order, Harry would not return to school, he would be in his chalet in Austria.  The Head Quarters were to be guarded by one or two members of the Order, mostly by Moody, Lupin or Tonks who were freer than the others.

The day of the beginning of terms passed as it had been planned. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Gabrielle arrived at King’s Cross with Mr and Mrs Weasley.

Mrs Weasley seeing Hermione with two suitcases, asked :

“How many sets of books and clothes are you bringing with you ?”

“Oh ! I’ve brought some complete sets of books about Defence Against the Dark Arts with me to improve myself ”, Hermione replied ingenuously.

“Oh, Mum, does it surprise you ? If Hermione could bring along all the books of Flourish & Blotts, she wouldn’t hesitate  !” said Ron.

“That’s right, Mum”, added Ginny, amused at Ron’s joke, for Hermione was a well known book worm.

Five minutes after the departure of the Hogwarts Express, all the students in all the compartments knew that neither Harry nor Malfoy were coming back to school. For Malfoy, nobody made any comments, but the fact that Harry didn’t return to school aroused various and mixed feelings among the students.

Most of them thought of Harry with compassion. Now that Dumbledore is dead, what could he do against Voldemort ? A young apprentice wizard against the greatest and most pitiless dark wizard the world had ever known ! Others thought sadly, specially the students of Gryffindor who used to have him in their house.  It was Harry who had helped Gryffindor win the house cup during these last many years.  Others thought that perhaps it would be better this way, for his presence in the school might attract the Death Eaters there and endanger their life.

“Is it true that Harry is not coming back to school ?” asked Neville. “It’s really sad. Suddenly I feel that I no longer want to return to Hogwarts”.

“So do I. It doesn’t interest me any more to come back to school”, said Luna.  “He didn’t say anything at your brother’s wedding, Ron !”

“No, he didn’t say anything ! But he is always very discreet, you know him well”, Ron replied. “The only reason he gave us, is that he feared his presence in the school would endanger his friends !”

There were, however, more students than McGonagall had hoped. She had thought that perhaps only half of the students would come back, but in reality there were many more.

 

The beginning of the term was really sad. The atmosphere of the feast in the Great Hall, usually so cheerful and animated by the noisy students after a two months’ separation, had been taken over by a gloomy look from everybody, from the teachers to the students, they all were affected by Dumbledore’s death and Harry’s absence.

 

The song of the Sorting Hat once again insisted, as usual since Voldemort’s return, on the solidarity between the houses, but this year its advice seemed to affect the students more deeply.  The students on their own felt willing to strike up a friendship with the others.  They were more ready to shake other hands which waited like themselves a friendly manifestation from the others ... Except, of course, from the Slytherins. It was definitely a Slytherin who, last year, had smuggled the Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and caused Dumbledore’s death. This was the way they saw the whole story.

 

Harry was very pleased with the arrangement McGonagall had made. He had for himself the large classroom and behind the classroom his private bureau, his sleeping room, bathroom, and toilets. All Dumbledore’s personal books and ornaments were there, on the bookshelves behind his desk.  Harry was very pleased; he would have enough to read. No sooner had he arrived in his class than Harry added a special curse to repel all the ghosts of the castle and Peeves, the poltergeist.  Dobby also added a special curse of his own. Harry had planned a meeting with his friends at 11 o’clock. Hermione and Ron should meet Dobby at the foot of the Gryffindor staircase, and Dobby would show them to Harry’s class.

Harry had just been on his rounds to inspect all the books on the shelves when Dobby’s signal told him that Ron and Hermione were there. Under his Invisibility Cloak, he went out and whispered the password in Ron and Hermione’s ears, and then they all entered the class.  It was also of Hermione and Ron’s opinion that McGonagall’s arrangements were brilliant and it gave Hermione an idea, which was also inspired by the general sentiment of the students after the Sorting Hat’s song that Hermione felt.

She reported to Harry how gloomy the feast had been and what she thought of the general atmosphere, then she suggested :

“And what if we re-formed the Dumbledore’s Army to strengthen the solidarity between the houses, except the Slytherins, of course ?  You see, last year, there were only five of us to deal with the Death Eaters.  You were away with Dumbledore. If this year, they attack us again, we will have an Army.  I am sure that many of the students would welcome that idea; I became aware of this feeling when the Sorting Hat insisted on the solidarity between the houses. Some former members of the D.A. asked us in the train, why we had not called them when the Death Eaters were here last year. And this year we are lucky enough to have a large classroom of our very own, and there is no Umbridge to annoy us ! Ron and I are Head Boy and Head Girl, that also makes it easier for the members to come and go.”

“Yes”, Ron reinforced. “It’s a very good idea. I feel the despair of the students, not only because of Dumbledore’s death but also for your being away ! Everybody asked us if we had any news of you. We told them that you were at Bill’s wedding, and then we did not get any other news from you. They love you very much, you are their hope now, since Dumbledore’s death and with Voldemort operating in the open”.

“Yes, may be. But they should not know that I’ve come back to school. You should explain to them that for the training days, I would come specially from outside, and that you would smuggle me in, taking advantage of your status as Head Boy and Girl. And we should bear in mind that we will have a lot to do such as the tracking down and destruction of the remaining Horcruxes, and the final confrontation with Voldemort. So the rhythm of our meetings would not be more than once a week ! What do you think of it ? And we should be careful in the choice of the members.”

“Yes”, Ron approved … “What’s that ?”, he added pointing at a shallow stone basin with odd carvings around the edge and which was on a tripod beside Harry’s desk.

“It’s the Pensieve”, Harry replied. “I’ll perhaps be able to show you Helga Hufflepuff’s cup”. Then with the point of his wand, Harry withdrew from his temple a silvery strand, neither liquid nor gaseous, and threw it in the Pensieve, and then he turned the contents of the basin with the tip of his wand. “Plunge your heads in it, you will see part of my memory, what I’ve seen with Dumbledore”.

“Who would have foretold that such a young and handsome student like him could become a mad serial killer later on ?” was Hermione’s comments when she withdrew her head from the basin.

“Where could we now find Helga’s cup ? We have no clue; it’s like trying to find a pin in the bottom of the sea !” Ron said in a desperate voice.

“But it’s better than nothing”, replied Harry. “At least, we know it’s Helga’s cup and how it looks like. While as for the fifth Horcrux, we don’t even know what it is supposed to be and how it looks like.  We only know that it must be something belonging to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor !”

“It’s really demoralizing !”, replied Ron who, as always, preferred easy things.

“I am really glad for having inherited this from Dumbledore. I can now share with you what Dumbledore showed me … In which house is Gabrielle ?” added Harry after a moment of silence.

“Ravenclaw, and Luna adopted her at once, or rather they adopted each other. They’ve already met at Bill’s wedding”, Hermione replied.

“Good ! She will not be too lonely then ! Luna is a sensitive and sentimental person, I like her very much”, Harry said.

“Me too”, Ron admitted. “Tomorrow we’ll have double Potions with Slughorn, right in the morning”.

“Yes, I know, McGonagall gave  me the timetable. I think that I’ll go and fetch the Prince’s Potions book. Even though I hate Rogue, his book is really precious. It  could help us for certain potions and antidotes. Specially antidotes.  Dumbledore wanted absolutely that I took him to Rogue, not to Mrs Pomfrey. Rogue is more competent in matters of potions.”

“Well, it’s late, we must go. Good night !” said Hermione.

“Good night to you both”, replied Harry. “I’ll go and fetch Rogue’s Potion book. I’ll wear the Invisibility Cloak”.

“We’ll come with you. With us, you can walk faster, even noisily.” And the three friends went to the Room of Requirement, where last year, Harry had hidden the Potions book of the Half Blood Prince.

 

***

 

Little by little, Harry’s life as an “invisible” student got itself organized. The three friends worked out a way for Harry to enter a class. They always let the other students enter first. Then it was always one of Ron or Hermione to go just before Harry and the other just behind him to close the classroom door Hermione and Ron would choose the last but one table, they would put their bags on each end of the last table, behind them, and Harry would stay in the middle of the two bags.

Harry was only a “free auditor”, he didn’t really take part in all the activities of the class; for example during the Potions lessons, Harry was there only to listen to the extra explanations of the Professor, but he didn’t prepare the potions. Meanwhile he read the Prince’s book, dissected the remarks noted by the Prince, and sometimes whispered to Hermione or Ron to try one of the Prince’s remarks to see what would be the result compared with the book which Hermione qualified as “official”.

There were some lessons which it was difficult for Harry to attend while wearing his Invisibility Cloak, for example Herbology, where the students frequently went about everywhere in the green house, looking either for a pot or for a bag of compost. These particular lessons, Harry often attended only at the beginning when Mrs Sprout explained the properties of the plants and how to handle them … as for the other details of the lessons he completed in reading his books in his room.

This year the students of Hogwarts had a new professor of Defence Against the Dart Arts (DADA), proposed by the Ministry. He was an Auror, nearly at the point of retirement, who wished a calmer life than that of a Death Eaters hunter.  It was not Umbridge - which was already a good thing - but he was not at all on top to the taste of Harry, Hermione and Ron. For the three friends were already far advanced compared with the level taught by the former Auror. He  progressed too slowly, in their opinion … Harry attended these lessons only to listen to his commentaries, critics, and to learn how to detect errors. Following the same lessons as his friends and learning the same things as them allowed Harry to be up to the level of the syllabus.

Owing to an inadequate staffing, Professor McGonagall still assumed the Transfiguration course on top of her new responsibility as Headmistress of Hogwarts. Poor McGonagall, she looked always exhausted, but Harry didn’t see anyone else who could replace Dumbledore better than her.

 

Ginny was named by Professor McGonagall Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.  Harry thought that McGonagall had made a good choice, but he realized that he was no longer interested in Quidditch, nor Ron either. Ron didn’t register for the Tryout sessions. Ginny was furious that her brother could let her down in that way, for after all Ron was a good Quidditch player who had allowed Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup the last previous two years.

 

Dumbledore’s books were a real treasure for Harry. Harry came to the conclusion that Dumbledore had learnt all by himself to become what he had been.  That conclusion encouraged him to immerge himself in his books, to dissect them, and to train himself assiduously. Harry was determined to follow Dumbledore’s example. In a certain way, this life as an ‘Invisible’ student forced Harry to become a self-taught man, he learnt more by himself than with the professors.  But he still stayed in the school because his two best friends were there.

 

Every evening, Ron and Hermione came to see Harry, and work with him. And so Harry learnt that at the last full moon, Lupin had not transformed either, though he had fully recovered from his wounds.  It was the second full moon after Bill’s wedding.

“What could have cured Lupin ?”, asked Harry

“At St Mungo’s Hospital, the healers thought that perhaps Lupin has lost too much of his werewolf blood, and the blood formed by the Blood-Replenishing potion was normal blood. Lupin said so”, replied Hermione.

“It’s not a very sensible explanation,” said Harry. “The Blood-Replenishing potion is no blood ! It’s only a potion that helps the formation and the production of blood by the organs, by the spleen … I have an idea, I remember that Bill and Lupin were one on top of another. Bill was on top of Lupin. Bill was bitten by Greyback when Greyback was not transformed, not at full moon.  Bill is no real werewolf. Bill’s blood might have worked out an antibody anti-werewolf. It would be enough for a particle of Bill’s blood entering Lupin’s body to create that miracle ! If my supposition is right, we may have a weapon against werewolves”.

“Yes, it’s quite sensible. We should watch the next full moon”, Hermione admitted.  “I know how to make injection and take samples of blood. If need be, we’ll ask Bill to give us a sample, and we could have it analysed in a Muggle laboratory so as to know his blood group for example. I’m of the opinion that we should be broad-minded. There are good things in the Muggle world why not make use of these things ?”

“I entirely agree with you”, said Harry. “The other day at the wedding, I looked at Bill closely, because he was before me. I thought that an aesthetic surgical operation in a Muggle hospital surely could remove his scars, or make them less visible.”

“Certainly ! I do agree”, replied Hermione.

“That will be divine !” said Ron.  “Poor Bill, he was such a handsome boy.”

“But he  IS a handsome boy”, said Harry.

“They found Fudge stiff dead yesterday in his house, under the Dark Mark, apparently with no fighting, by an Avada Kedavra, said Hermione, changing the subject.

“Dad said that Scrimgeour trembled with fear when he learnt the news. He came on the place some minutes after the Dark Mark had been reported.  He was white like a sheet of paper”, said Ron.

“It doesn’t surprise me”, said Harry. “He must have thought that he would be the next one. Everybody in his place would think so”.

 

What Harry liked most, was the weekends, when the weather was fine. Ron and Hermione often took a walk as ‘lovers’ near the lake.  Harry could be with them, under his cloak, without fear of being discovered, for the other students never disturbed the lovers, and didn’t come near them either.

Ginny was very popular, as usual. She never ran short of boyfriends, but she didn’t show any interest in any of them in particular.  She was always surrounded by many boys, but she remained friendly and cheerful with everybody.  Little by little Harry learnt to consider Ginny as a sister, it even surprised himself to see that he could wish Ginny happy with a boy, whoever he was so long as it was her choice.

Gabrielle, very beautiful, natural, a little shy and reserved, was often seen with Luna, yet they were not in the same class. The boys often turned round to look at her when they crossed her on their way. She had made considerable progress in English and spoke with no accent, according to Hermione.  Harry considered her as another sister, and realized that he was no longer interested in girls, and that girls’ stories no longer concerned him, so much he concentrated on Voldemort and on the tracking down of the remaining Horcrucres. And most of all, he didn’t want to engage himself with any girl for fear of making her suffer afterwards; if ever he should disappear after the confrontation with Voldemort.

 

***

Chapter 8:  Dumbledore’s Army

 

By mid-October, the Dumbledore’s Army was re-formed. All the members of the former D.A., who were still in school, were again members of the new army. Among the new members, there were as many Ravenclaw as Hufflepuff as well as Gryffindor. The new Army had in total thirty members, including Harry, Ron and Hermione. The idea of re-forming the Army was heartily welcomed by the former members who all liked Harry very much.  They all decided to keep the name of  Dumbledore’s Army.

 

The first meeting began with a reproach :

“Why didn’t you call us, last year, when the Death Eaters came into the school”, said Micheal Corner.

“Yes”, Hermione hastened to reply, “we’ve called you by way of the Magic Galleon, but only Neville and Luna replied, they were the only ones to have checked their Galleon”.

“We will use again the magic Galleon as means of communication”, said Harry. “We should keep it permanently in our pocket, when it turns hot, the date and time of the meeting will be indicated on the Galleon. This year as I come from outside the school, the rhythm of our meetings would not be more than once a week.”

“I have prepared the Galleons”, Hermione said. But this year, I  made them in the form of a token one could hook to a key ring, so that it would be easier to keep in your pocket”. Then Hermione distributed one to each member, including Harry.

“I would like to ask you all to keep our activity secret”, Harry stated, “not that our group be illegal. According to school rules, we are perfectly right forming study groups. But in my opinion, the least people know about it, the better for us. The Death Eaters should not know that at Hogwarts there is an Army ready to reduce them into pieces !  It would be the same for me, I’ll request you never to mention my visits here or anything else concerning me. It would be better that way... Well we still have about fifteen minutes’ added Harry after consulting his watch, “I wouldn’t like to waste time. First, I would like to know, among the former members, if there are some spells that you haven’t yet been able to master, and whether these spells interest the new members too ?”

“I don’t know yet how to conjure a Patronus”, Colin Crivey hastened to say.

“I can’t cast the ‘Reducto’ spell yet”, said his brother Dennis. “It’s a spell that, in class, I haven’t yet been able to cast, and that I should succeed in mastering it by tomorrow”.

“Ah !” said Harry, “I’ll propose you my own program consisting in interesting and important spells, but you can ask me to help you master the spells that in class you haven’t yet been able to do. Does that suit you as a program ?”

Then turning to Dennis, Harry said :

“Dennis, you should bear in mind this, in every spell, the important thing is the concentration and determination of the spirit.  You want to cut this bench in halves ?” added Harry in pointing at the bench in the corner.

Then with a smooth wave of his hand, without pronouncing the incantation, Harry pointed his wand on the bench as quickly as a flash, and the bench snapped neatly into two parts. Then he repaired it with another wave of the wand.

“Now, you want to destroy it into pieces ?” asked Harry.

And again, with a smooth wave of his wand, Harry pointed at the bench, and it broke into thousands of pieces with a detonation.

“Harry  !” Hermione burst out, putting a hand on her mouth.

But Harry didn’t pay attention to Hermione.

“Dennis ! First, you should pronounce the incantation in a clear and determined voice, secondly, you should know exactly what you expect from the spell you’ll cast. You need concentration and determination of your spirit, said Harry pointing a finger on his forehead. Now, try it pronouncing in a clear voice: “Re-DUC-to”, with a smooth wave of the hand. The smooth movement of the hand allows you to concentrate, see in your head, as in a flash, what is the result you wish to reach. Try it now. Look ! In that way the wave of the wand (and Harry showed the movement of the hand).

Dennis turned his wand, then pointed it at the bench crying ‘Re-DUC-to’. And the bench broke into two pieces.

“Woouuawh ! I’ve done it !”, Dennis burst out, both happy and surprised at his own exploit.

“Well done !” Harry said as an encouragement.

Everybody applauded Dennis, or rather applauded Harry.

“You should have been our prof. of DADA”, said a new member of Ravenclaw.

“Harry, you’ve seen the time ?” Hermione reminded Harry.

“Well then, I cannot linger on. Good night to everybody !” Harry said. “Leave in small groups and don’t take the same direction.  We’ll meet again next week. And do come in small groups too, next time. And don’t forget, that out of our meetings, when you pass in front of the class, you must act as if you didn’t see anything, in order not to draw the attention of the other people, who are not members of the D.A., and specially of Filch, the caretaker’… Then to Gabrielle Harry added : “How are you, Gabrielle. You like being at Hogwarts ?”

“Yes, very much”, Gabrielle replied simply, in a timid but clear voice, and with a faint smile in her beautiful eyes that didn’t pass unnoticed by Ron who watched her mischievously

“Good night, Ginny, Gabrielle ! And … Good night, Luna,” Harry added because Luna was waiting for Gabrielle at the door.

“Your demonstration was brilliant !”, Hermione burst out, after everybody had gone. “And Dennis must be very happy. For a whole week, he had been unable to master the spell, in two minutes’ time with you he succeeded it at the first try !”.

“How can you manage to break the bench into two and then into small pieces with the same spell ?” asked Ron. “We have known you for many years, and still you can surprise us every day !”

“I told you that during a month at Privet Drive, I’ve done nothing else but training myself, practicing concentration !” replied Harry. “It’s in the concentration and determination of the spirit that lies the power. My Patronus is enormous now … well, if I want that way  !” added Harry after a pause.

“What ? ‘IF YOU WANT THAT WAY, what does that mean ?” asked Ron.

“That means according to my wish. If it were to chase a Dementor, a normal stag would do. But what if Voldemort sent me an army of these monsters … then ? But, for me that’s not enough. My stag should be able to destroy them, not only to chase them ! You see what I mean ?”

“Yes, I understand what you mean, but I don’t see how we could ?”

“By determination and concentration of the spirit ! I don’t see any other ways !” replied Harry in a firm voice.

Hermione fixed Harry with both admiring and observatory eyes as if she saw him for the first time, but she said nothing.

“I think that Gabrielle has a crush on you, Harry ! Ginny will have a dreadful rival !” said Ron smiling teasingly.

“No, she should not. I cannot get involved with any girl, and as for myself, I don’t know if I could come out unscathed, once more, from the last battle with Voldemort.”

“You’ll succeed; we will be always with you. But now, we should go”, said Hermione.

“Not yet” said Harry, leading Hermione and Ron towards the Pensieve. “I would like to show you a piece of memory, of a dream I have seen again and again lately, since Dumbledore’s death. Then with his wand he withdrew a long silvery strand from his temple and deposited it in the shallow stone basin, turned its contents neither gaseous nor liquid with the tip of his wand. Hermione and Ron plunged their head together into the basin :

“Perhaps you think too much about the Horcruxes and about Voldemort’s snake, I mean Nagini”, said Ron. It sometimes so happens, that when we think too much of something, we see it in the dreams, at night.’

“It’s quite possible”.

“Why did the rope ladder turn into a snake ?” asked Hermione.

“That might be a clue to our problem … Think hard about it … and now, good night to you both”, Harry said to his friends.

 

So, Harry’s life as an ‘Invisible’ student went on, calm, and regulated between the lessons under his ‘Invisibility’ Cloak and the training meetings with the members of the D.A. Harry had shown them how to conjure a Patronus, because no one among the new members of the D.A. knew how to do it. Harry explained to them that the Patronus was really personal, each one conjured a different Patronus, specific to himself, and that it was a very efficient way to fight against the Dementors … The Patronus was an animal created by the wizard which acted as a shield to protect anyone from the Dementors, by chasing them away. To conjure a Patronus, the wizard should think of a particularly happy memory, and in the beginning, it was almost difficult to select a happy memory.  Harry had to devote two entire sessions before everybody could succeed the spell, and this despite the help of Hermione and Ron, who had already mastered the spell long time ago. Neville who had not been able to do it the last time, three years ago, could now conjure a wonderful silvery penguin.

And when Christmas holidays arrived, Harry could have shown to his friends ten new spells among the long list prepared by Hermione.  Harry also had been able to help along many of them make up for the gaps in their knowledge.

 

“Where will we spend our Christmas holidays ? It’s in four days ?” asked Ron at the end of the last training meeting before the holidays. “At The Burrow or at Grimmauld Place ?”

“I think that your parents would not appreciate it if we were not with them for the whole year-end holidays. But I would like us to spend Christmas this year at ‘Concerto’, then the New Year at the Burrow ? What do you think of it ?”, suggested Harry.

“Woouuawh ! That will be great ! And how could we go to Concerto ?” asked Ron.

“On the back of a Thestral, or a Hippogriff.”

“I long to see Austria”, said Hermione.

“We’ll do it together” replied Harry, happy at the thought that he would always have his best friends with him.

 

***

Chapter 9:  A  Very  Frosty  Christmas

 

     The three friends finally decided to go to Concerto on the back of two Thestrals, the winged horses of the Forbidden Forest, which were invisible to those who have never seen death. On the previous day, Harry had ordered a great quantity of fresh meat, and first necessity provisions on behalf of Dobby at Hogwarts kitchen. He had also gone up to the Owlery to tell Hedwig to meet him at Concerto.

     They woke up at dawn and after taking a substantial breakfast each, they met up behind Hagrid’s hut. They went far into the forest with a bit of fresh meat in hand to attract these winged horses.  Harry breathed with relief when he saw from far away two eyes sparkling in the timid dawn light. They were lucky, very lucky, because there were two of them, perhaps one male and one female. Harry gave them the meat. Then he hung on either side of the back of the first Thestral two bags of clothing and food, and put a large leather collar around its neck. Now with the collar and the bags, Ron and Hermione could see it, or at least could guess where it was.  Harry prepared the second Thestral in the same way and mounted it with Dobby in front of him. They all wore warm clothing, scarves, woollen hats, and gloves. Harry also covered Dobby in his coat.

     ‘Grip well on the collar ! And clench your legs tightly around the horse’s sides ! The take-off may be dangerous !’ Harry advised, remembering how it had been the last time when they had mounted the Thestrals to go to the Ministry.

     Then he bent down and spoke in the ear of his horse : ‘Chalet Concerto in Austria, please. Well, if you know where to go !’. Hermione did the same to her horse. For a moment, the horses did nothing at all; then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated them all, the horses crouched slowly, they extended their wings then rocketed upwards so fast and so steeply that Harry felt sick.

     “To adventure !” Harry cried out.

     When they arrived at Concerto, the sun was still high. It took them only a little more than four hours to go from Hogwarts to Concerto. “Yes, it’s in a straight line !” thought Harry. They all were chilled to the bone, but safe and sound, and were all pleased with that mode of transport, so rapid, so convenient, and not costly at all.  The Thestrals must probably have been accustomed to bringing Dumbledore here since they knew the way so well; they landed down right in front of the chalet. Dobby took the Thestrals to the back where there were sorts of loose boxes.

     At the main door, there was a security device, Harry applied the secret code, and the door slid open as by magic.

     “Wonderful !” Harry cried out, really happy. He went in and got water for the horses, and gave them half the rest of the meat.  Giving a friendly pat on their neck, Harry said:     

     “Thank you very much”, and he was also very glad to see Hedwig quietly sleeping on a bar above the loose box.

     The chalet was equipped in Muggle fashion, with electricity, running water, electric cooker, electric heating, (but there was also a fireplace in the living room), fridge, freezer, and also a dishwasher and a washing machine. But both freezer and fridge were empty. Electricity was supplied by a fuel generator in the warehouse behind the chalet, where there were still many full fuel cans and a huge stock of wood for the fire place. Water was supplied by a well with an electric pump. There were three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, cellar, bathrooms and toilets, all the modern conveniences, and even a small room that, Harry thought,  could be arranged for Dobby’s use.

     Dobby prepared the dinner with ham, toast, butter, cheese, and jam. They devoured all happily after a long and tiring journey.

     After dinner, Harry made a reconnaissance visit of the chalet. The main room was very large. It contained a desk with a high backed chair, two comfortable armchairs, a low table, a well-filled bookcase, and on the side of it were a large bathroom and toilets, accessible only from the room. In the drawer of the desk Harry found a wad of Sterling notes, a book about snakes, the different varieties of snakes, their venoms, how to approach them, and how to destroy them.

     “This book looks very interesting ! … Woouuawh, we are rich !” cried out Harry, “Tomorrow we’ll go shopping to constitute our food stock … It will be a very busy day !”

     Ron was filled with wonder before the Muggle electric labour-saving machines. As for Dobby he didn’t know how to use them.

     “You are on holiday, Dobby ! I’ll do it”, said Hermione, then she cleared the table, put dishes, spoons, knifes … in the dishwasher and turned it on. The soft purring noise of the machine intrigued both Ron and Dobby.

     “Hermione, you take the main room”, said Harry. “For Ron and I, the two small ones will do. And Dobby, you can sleep here, on the sofa, surely we’ll find a blanket for you.”

      Upon that, Dobby darted out to prepare the bedrooms. The three friends remained in the living room savouring their first holiday evening in their ‘home’.  They found under the low table a tourist map, surely of the region, with a red cross mark, probably the site of Concerto. So, they were in a very remote area; the nearest small village that they could see on the map, was about twenty kilometres, according to the map scale.  Harry thought that Concerto, apart from the Muggle security devices, must be also magically protected.  He had complete confidence in Dumbledore.

      It was already late when they decided to go to bed.  Harry took the book on the snakes with him to read it in bed.  That night once more, he dreamed of cups and odd objects, but the ladder that Dumbledore had offered him was no longer a rope, it was a snake, an enormous snake. He woke up with a start. He thought that perhaps it was because of the book he had been reading before he fell asleep, but it intrigued him all the same and he lay awake thinking about the significance of his dream, until the other members of the chalet were awake. He went out to take his breakfast with the others in the dining room. Their first breakfast in the chalet, with a good cup of Muggle coffee prepared by Hermione with the electric coffee maker before the curious and intrigued eyes of both Ron and Dobby.

     It had snowed during the night.  There already was a layer of snow of many inches deep in the garden.

     ‘We should do some food shopping today, we had better buy food for ten days, just in case…’ Harry suggested.

     In the warehouse, they found a handy folding caddie. They Apparated near the intersection of the village road with the small river: they had seen it  on the map, cross-marked in green.  Their point of landing had been a good choice, for it was discreet, hidden by a row of trees that bordered the river bank. Harry had also thought of taking with him his Muggle chequebook and the wad of Sterling notes. It was a small village, but you could find everything you want. There was an old small church; it looked very romantic and was supposed to date back to the fourteenth century. There also were a bank, a fuel station, a small post office, a small market, a baker’s, and also some clothing, ornaments and souvenirs shops. They went first to the bank. After that little detour, with their pockets full of local currency, they went to the market and began to fill the caddie with food.

     ‘We’ll return to our landing point’, Harry proposed. ‘I’ll take the bag to the chalet and meanwhile you go and make other purchases, I’ll meet you up there. We can do many trips like that and we will have all we need by noon.  I’ll take also the empty fuel cans that we forgot this morning.’

     And so, when they returned to the chalet at noon, the freezer was full with chickens, fish, and meat for the Thestrals, the fridge was sufficiently full for the next ten days, the fuel stock was to the maximum. They also had thought of renewing the stock of cleaning and household products.

     Dobby was glad to be able to prepare the meals properly. He had found in the warehouse a small stool on which he could stand to be at the proper height with the cooker.  Hermione had shown him how to use the electric cooker, and the precautions that should be observed. Dobby was in the seventh heaven and the three friends too.

     Hermione had her mail forwarded to Concerto. And so, the three friends learnt by the Daily Prophet that there had just been an attack in Norfolk by about a hundred of Dementors, in a small and remote village, at an open air market. An army of Aurors had been dispatched to the place.

     “Listen,” said Hermione, “… after nearly an hour of fighting, the Aurors have been able to chase the Dementors away, but the toll was heavy.  Part of the material damages was mostly caused by panic; five Muggles were in deep coma, probably irrecoverable.  They all presented the signs of having received the kiss of these monsters. Some thirty in a state of shock had received the first treatments of the Healers who had immediately been called onto the place.  The Aurors had been able to modify the memory of all the eyewitnesses; that is to say nearly all the village.  The Ministry tried to turn the incident into a hurricane by uprooting some trees...”  read Hermione.

     “That’s terrible”, said Ron. “We should exterminate them all, those monsters, but how ?”

     “Yes, we should exterminate them all … “, replied Harry with rage. “For sure, Voldemort is behind all that !”

 

     That night again, Harry made the same dream but the ladder that Dumbledore offered him was no longer a rope ladder, but a snake, an enormous snake, and Harry woke up all of a sudden in the middle of the night.  He thought of Dumbledore, and reviewed all the details of his dream, the helpful hand of Dumbledore, the smile in his eyes when he offered the ladder, as if encouraging him. ‘Why the ladder is replaced by an enormous snake ?’ Harry wondered to himself, ‘an enormous snake ! But, it’s Nagini, the enormous snake, why he has not thought of it before ?’  And he thought he has found the answer. It was Nagini the key of the problem. Confident of having found the significance of his weird dream, Harry returned to sleep at one go till the morning when the noises of the other members of the chalet woke him up.

     “Morning Harry ! You have a better look today”, greeted Hermione when Harry arrived in the dinning room.

     “Yes, I think I’ve found the significance of the ladder that turned into a snake in my dream”, said Harry.

     "WHAT ? You are still in your dreams of snakes ? Are you mental !” Ron burst out.

     “On the contrary, it’s very sensible, the question is now how to exploit my discovery”, replied Harry.

     “Do explain, because I can’t understand any thing !” begged Hermione.

     “It’s quite simple ! I should get into Nagini’s head, sift through the bit of Voldemort’s soul which is in it, to find out what are the other Horcruxes as well as where Voldemort had hidden them!” Harry explained, “but I’ll think about that later, for the moment, we shall decorate our chalet for Christmas, and I would like to buy some presents specially from this remote place.” Harry added happily.

     The snow layer of yesterday had not melted. They went to the village in the same way as the day before, but this time they were as real tourists, and for their pleasure. Harry has thought of everybody, and he was very glad of his choices. Hermione had already sent her presents to her parents before going to Concerto, but she has bought a postcard representing the village church and sent it to her parents by the local Muggle post office. Ron had found a beautifully worked ring set with a blue topaz for Mrs Weasley. Harry had also bought for himself a small old-looking silver locket on a long chain; he thought he would put the photos of his parents inside.

     Hedwig was lucky, because all the gifts were for The Burrow.  Dobby had found a beautiful fir tree and the three friends spent the afternoon decorating it in a total  euphoria which, for once, was not disturbed by events.

     It started snowing heavily, and they thought that if it went on like this, by the next day they would be blocked in their chalet, completely cut out from the rest of the world, but they had everything they needed and they did not give a damn about what might happen.

     The next day Hedwig wasn’t back yet, but Harry didn’t worry. It was a long way from Concerto to The Burrow, and Hedwig was only a small owl, not a Thestral.

     Things happened exactly as they had forecast. On Christmas eve, the inhabitants of the chalet woke up to find themselves on an island in the middle of an ocean of snow. Harry saw Hedwig come and sip quietly in his cup of milk, as if there was nothing special. She nipped tenderly his finger by way of greeting him a good day, but she brought no letter, no news from the exterior world.  To save fuel, they had switched off the electric heating, and made a good fire in the fireplace, to have a warmer and more appropriate atmosphere for Christmas festivities. Harry was really happy.  He had never had such a Christmas eve as this, with his two best friends.  ‘I’ll think of Nagini and of the Horcruxes later, for the time being, I will enjoy what life which, for once, seemed clement enough, deigns to give me’, Harry thought.

     Dobby had prepared a lordly meal for the Christmas Eve. The friends stayed up late, savouring their holidays.  Harry had already entrusted to Dobby his various presents for Hermione and Ron, and for once, he slept like a log.

     “Time for Christmas presents !!!” Hermione’s clear voice was heard from the living room.

     Harry came out of his room stealthily, hiding his present for Dobby behind his back, and discreetly he slipped it under the Christmas tree.  They all had many presents. Even Hedwig, who got a packet of cornflakes.

     On the previous day, Hedwig had brought many presents from The Burrow, which Dobby had intercepted and hidden all. Dobby was really very happy for having received so many presents from everybody.  He confessed that he had received the day before, a black suit with a white blouse and a bow tie which Winky had made all by herself. ‘Winky has made good use of her salary’, thought Harry. Then an idea just appeared in his mind that darkened his feature : ‘Shall I survive once more after the final combat with Voldemort to have other Christmas like this ?’,  Harry thought gloomily, ‘and my friends, will they be safe and sound ?’ That sentence came back regularly each time he had a happy moment with his friends. 'It’s dreadful ’.

     “What is it ?” asked Hermione, always attentive, as she had noticed that flash of sadness over Harry’s face.

     “Nothing the matter !” replied Harry. “I was only wondering whether I would be able to come out unscathed once more from the final combat and whether I shall have other Christmas like this one?”

     “Yes, of course, you will. The prophecy was clear on that point”, said Hermione putting an arm round Harry’s shoulder. “We’ll always be with you, and if we should die, we would die with you … I would die with you.”

     “No, I forbid you to speak this way. For the final combat, it will be me alone facing Voldemort. But let’s not speak of that now. Let us enjoy the present time.” Then with watering eyes, he kissed his only two best friends.

      That night, Hermione’s sentence came back into Harry’s mind: “I would die with you”, and a twinge of pain oppressed his heart, making him put a hand on his chest, and the image of Hermione from the very first time he had met her on the Hogwarts’ Express in his first year unrolled in his mind like a film. ‘I love her’, he said to himself. ‘I have always loved her. It’s was her I loved; it was not Cho, nor Ginny”.

     Another sentence of Hermione came back to his mind : ‘Ron’s got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you are his best friend, and you are really famous – he’s always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many …’ It had been during his fourth year, when the Goblet of Fire had picked out his name making him the fourth champion at the Triwizard Tournament. ‘Yes, I didn’t want to take away Ron’s only friend. I had deliberately, voluntarily pushed Hermione away from my heart.  I didn’t want to be my best friend’s rival. And now, Ron loves her. The story must end here. Yes, the story must end here.  I should no longer think about it ! “ Harry said to himself miserably.

     Time passed so quickly, and soon the day of their departure arrived. They should leave that enchanting place.

 

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To be continued on next page