Standard disclaimer: the author is doing all of this for love.
Non-standard praises: as a beta, Black Angel is an alpha.
The next morning found Harry feeling somewhat revived when he went down to breakfast with Ron and Ginny. Ron was kind of jumpy about Hermione's impending arrival, so Ginny did her duty as his pest of a little sister and reminded him the letter had said she was coming today or tomorrow. He pulled a face, she sent him her most angelic smile, he tried to slap her, and she ducked out of his way behind Harry, who thought they were putting on a remarkably energetic display for such an early hour.
In the kitchen Molly Weasley was frying sausages and eggs, Remus and Tonks were having a cup of tea, and Bill was chuckling about something in The Daily Prophet. Arthur Weasley had already gone in to work. A round robin of "Good Mornings" later and Harry was snarfing down a piece of toast while looking expectantly at the stove.
"What's in the paper, Bill?" asked Ginny.
"Another quote by Fudge insisting he neither knew nor approved of Lucius Malfoy's shadier business dealings. Should have just asked Dung. He knew everything," Bill replied.
"But what if Fudge really didn't know?" suggested Harry. He wasn't so much defending the Minister as taking into account that Malfoy was a slippery scoundrel.
"Fudge didn't know what Malfoy was up to the same way a five year-old boy who clamps his hands over his ears and starts singing doesn't know he's being ordered to clean his room," Bill responded dryly.
"I remember when you tried that dear," said Mrs Weasley with a knowing smile. "You ended up cleaning quite a bit more than your room that day."
Fortunately for Bill a more lengthy recounting of his boyhood exploits was interrupted by the doorbell.
"I'll get it," Ron almost shouted. He leaped out of his chair and bolted from the kitchen before anyone else could even think about getting up.
"Wonder who he thinks it is," Ginny said airily.
A visibly disappointed Ron was back moments later with the tall gangly wizard Harry had learned piecemeal was Heinrich Umnebel.
"Why good morning Heinrich! Fancy seeing you here so early," said Molly Weasley.
"Guten morgen, Frau Weasley" said Umnebel graciously though a bit distractedly. He had a fairly thick accent.
"Would you like to have breakfast with us?" asked Molly.
"I vill haf coffee if you haf some ready," said Heinrich.
He exchanged greetings with the rest of the room and sat down across from Harry.
"Maybe ve do it zis morningk den, ja?" said Umnebel.
"Erm... I'm sorry, do what?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes, let me introduce you, Harry," said Remus. "This is Heinrich Umnebel, an Auror on loan from the German Ministry of Magic. Heinrich, this as you must know by now is Harry Potter."
"Ja, pleezed to meet you," said Umnebel, shaking hands while his eyes imperceptibly flicked to Harry's forehead.
"Err, and you."
It felt a little weird being introduced to somebody he already sort of knew, and whose first words addressed to him had been so casual. Harry was about to ask again what Umnebel wanted them to do that morning, but then the eggs and sausage were done and Molly put a loaded plate in front of him.
He was tucking into it intently when Ginny nudged him in the ribs and gestured with a jerk of her head at Tonks, then at Umnebel. Harry didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about either of them at first. Tonks was determinedly looking anywhere but at Heinrich, and Heinrich wasn't looking at anyone in particular. Then it dawned on him a subtle contest or duet was taking place.
Tonks scrunched up her face and put curls in her spiky pink hair. Heinrich responded by wiggling his bat-like ears and making the strands of his very fine close-cropped light hair twist until they were sticking up in all directions. She made hers into a long braid that swept the floor; he made his into something that resembled a mop; hers became neon green and spiky again; his became a metallic blue mohawk.
Changes to specific facial features came next; her nose turned into a pig's snout; his turned into flaring horse nostrils; she took on protuberant almond-shaped eyes; his became sunken caves; her lips filled out; his became colorless and shrank away almost to nonexistence. Finally, she made her ears stick out the way his did; he promptly made his neat and small the way hers were; she squared off her chin; he made his pointed; she made her hair short and pale; he made his pink and spiky.
By the time they were done Heinrich had Tonks' hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and chin, and she had his. The effect was odd; they looked like hybrids of each other because her head was still mostly heart-shaped (despite the squared-off chin) and his was still severely rectangular (despite the pointed chin). Then with a Pop! each returned to what they preferred to use as their everyday faces. They continued to avoid eye contact, but each was wearing just the barest trace of a smile.
"Please pass me the bacon when you're done playing, Dora," Remus said innocently.
Tonks sent about five strips hurtling at his face, but of course he had anticipated that move and with a flick of his wand settled them harmlessly onto his plate.
"Ah, that's the ticket. Thanks dear," he said.
"You're welcome Rheumy," she responded sweetly.
Ron, Harry, and Ginny all exchanged looks. "Dora" and "Rheumy" were endearments they hadn't heard Remus and Tonks use for each other yet.
By Weasley standards the rest of the meal passed uneventfully (Ron and Bill had a silent tug-of-war over the butter dish and the jam, each trying to position them closer to his own plate), and after Harry was full he decided to have another go at finding out what Heinrich was there for.
"Excuse me, Mr. Umnebel? What were you hoping to do this morning?" asked Harry.
"Hmmmm... der ver many zingks...." he said with a look of genuine concentration.
"Was there something you wanted to do with me?" he tried again, wondering if maybe there was a language barrier at work.
"Ah ja, Herr Dumbledore asked me to help vit your edukation," Heinrich said, toying with his empty coffee cup.
Harry waited for Heinrich to say more but was met with silence, so he carefully banished his plate to the sink, thanked Mrs Weasley for making breakfast, and stood up. Heinrich immediately stood up with him. Disconcerted, Harry look looked around at the other people in the kitchen. All they could do for him was shrug.
"We'll catch you up later," said Ron. In one way that was helpful; it gave him an opening to leave the kitchen. In another it wasn't; he would have liked to spend the morning with Ron and Ginny again. The matter seemed settled however, so with a shrug of his own Harry headed for the door. Heinrich was right behind him.
"Zey tell me you are a wery good Seeker," said the older man conversationally when they were out in the hallway.
"I've done OK," Harry said noncommittally. "I really like to fly," he added for reasons he couldn't explain even to himself.
"I vos a Beater. Vit mein bruder Aldarich...." Heinrich's voice trailed off. As people had told Harry it would.
Harry looked over the tall man thinking Heinrich had much more the build for a Keeper or Chaser, but didn't say anything because they had arrived at the front door. He opened it expecting Heinrich to say goodbye and depart. Instead they stood there awkwardly looking at each other. At least Harry thought it was awkward; Heinrich seemed unphased, as though standing still by an open door saying nothing with no clear destination was perfectly normal.
Even Heinrich had his limits though. "Are ve goingk outside den?"
"Err, um, no, I've changed my mind," Harry bluffed. He'd never made up his mind in the first place. "I'm going upstairs."
He shut the door again and they began climbing stairs. Harry decided if Heinrich was going to follow him around they might as well go up and see Buckbeak.
When they were up in the hippogriff's room and seated in chairs Heinrich still didn't say what he wanted. But now he was looking at Harry in a way that was more focused than usual for him.
"You haf been fightingk ze Evil Lord all your young life," he finally said.
For the second time in ten minutes Harry was thrown off stride. "Err... yeah. Never had much choice really."
Heinrich continued to study him, and kept at it so long Harry was torn between stomping out of the room or demanding to know what the hell the man wanted.
"Ve alvays haf choices," Heinrich finally said. "My family has alvays opposed such men, alvays. But...."
"Ve should haf acted sooner!" he suddenly burst out, not noticing how alarmed Harry was when he did.
"Ve knew he vos seekingk allies in Deutschland. Ve knew he vos tryingk to find ze old supporters of Grindelvald, und ve did nozzingk to stop zem! Almost it vos too late ven ve did try at last. Den he attacked you und vos banished. But by zen Aldarich vos already...."
For once Henrich didn't need to finish his sentence. Harry was fascinated, but also uneasy and not at all sure he wanted to hear more. Everyone thought Umnebel was just a bit of a loon. Was he always like that, or was it because he'd never quite adjusted to losing his brother? And was this what it was going to be like for himself, Harry wondered? Sirius preoccupied him enough as it was, and the war was just barely started. Who knew how many other people he might lose... but that thought was too terrible to think the rest.
"He vos my twin," Heinrich added, apropos of nothing and everything.
That threw some light. Harry only had to imagine what George would be without Fred, or Fred without George, to have any idea what Heinrich had gone through the past sixteen years. Both sets of twins were Beaters, for Merlin's sake.
Then there was the little game Tonks and Heinrich had played that morning. Maybe it was something metamorphmagi liked to do when they were in each other's company. If they were twins, Aldarich Umnebel was probably also a metamorphmagi....
"I'm so sorry for you. I didn't know," was all Harry could manage to say. It sounded stupidly inadequate to his ears.
Abruptly, Heinrich was all business "Vell zen, let us get started."
"Get started with what?" asked Harry, struggling to keep his voice even. He didn't want to go back to interpreting vague statements.
"Did not Herr Dumbledore tell you?" Heinrich asked in consternation.
What was Umnebel getting at? "No he hasn't. Well, he hasn't said what I'm expected to do with you anyway."
"He told me he gafe you a book to study! Do you not haf zat ezzer?!" Heinrich was starting to sound alarmed.
Book? Book... book... Dumbledore had given Harry a book earlier in the summer, and he had been reading it. He suddenly had an inkling as if a candle had flickered alight over his head.
"Is this about... Occlumency?"
Heinrich's face visibly relaxed to its usual mildly disoriented state. "Ja, I vill be teachingk you."
So this was the arrangement Dumbledore said he was making. He could have told me the rest, Harry thought with some justifiable ire. But now that he was face to face with it he wasn't sure he wanted to continue. The sessions with Snape had been awful. And it was hard to imagine Umnebel teaching anyone anything.
"I understand you haf done before, but it vos not so good, ja?" said Heinrich.
"That's true," said Harry nervously.
"Vell, I tink ve vill try it another vay den Herr Snape," said Heinrich.
That was a relief. A little. This strange man was still going to be stabbing into his mind after all.
"Get ready. You must clear your mind now," said Heinrich pulling out his wand.
With apprehension, Harry tried to remember some of the exercises from his book. Heinrich was looking at him, apparently waiting for a signal. When Harry thought he was ready he nodded slightly.
"Legilimens!" cried Heinrich.
Harry succumbed immediately, and not a second later the German wizard was breaking off the attack. "Nein nein nein niemals!... Ve vill try again. I vill push not so hard zis time."
He pointed his wand right between Harry's eyes. "It vill help you recover faster," Heinrich said by way of explanation, and cast a mild soothing charm.
The harsh after effects of the Legilimensy spell seemed to melt away. Why didn't Snape ever do that? Because he's Snape, Harry thought bitterly.
They positioned themselves again, and Harry made a little hand gesture as a go-ahead signal.
"Legilimens." Heinrich said it softly this time.
Harry did slightly better; he achieved momentary resistance like parchment being punctured by a quill, but neither of them were satisfied with that.
"Ach! Vell, I vill just haf to, how you say, back off, until you can stop me," said Heinrich.
They made a couple more attempts, each followed by another soothing charm, and finally, when Heinrich's Legilimency intrusion couldn't have been any weaker without him ceasing to cast it at all, Harry succeeded in blocking it. The sensation was odd, like someone had tried and failed to push something sharp through a dense wrapper of cork around his head. A surge of adrenaline swamped his mental fatigue. He'd done it! He'd Occlumened himself!
"Ja, ja, it is a start. Ve vill try zat again, zen try slightly stronger."
They repeated the drill at that weakest of levels not once but three times; Heinrich wanted to make sure Harry had a sense of what he needed to do with his mind. Then they went on to somewhat more forceful attacks, and up to a point Harry found he was able to block those too. His control faltered well short of countering a Legilimency assault of medium power however, let alone the hardest Heinrich could offer.
"I zink zat vill be enough for now. I vud prefer to verk vit you for ze rest of ze month, but ve haf not ze time. I vill be leavingk soon," said Heinrich.
"Could we do it again tomorrow?" Harry heard himself ask, scarcely believing it as he did so. Occlumening was hard, mentally draining work, yet he was so encouraged by the progress they'd made that morning he wanted to keep going. Having the right teacher made all the difference when you were trying to learn a new magical skill.
"You rest now. Tomorrow ve can, ja," said Heinrich, "but after zat, no. I vill not be here."
Harry supposed that made sense. The advance team The Order was sending to Central Asia needed to get there as quickly as possible and start shadowing the Death Eaters. Still, he found himself nagged by an irrational wish that their first session had come sooner.
He thanked Heinrich sincerely for the lessons and went down to find Ron and Ginny, who it turned out were still in the kitchen; Ron didn't want to go far from the front door. When Harry showed up Mrs Weasley chased all three of them out, and with nothing better to do they went into the study where the Black family tapestry was hanging. It wasn't visible anymore thanks to strategic placement of a bookcase. Indeed, the whole room was full of books. Harry was glad of that. He decided to read the Defense text Hermione had given him for his birthday while he waited for her to arrive. By that time he was feeling every bit as enthusiastic about her return as Ron. Which was unfortunate in a way, because as morning passed into afternoon passed into evening passed into night their absent friend still did not show up.
~~*~~
True to his word, Heinrich was there the next morning for more Occlumency exercises. This time they went to the study, and Ron and Ginny tagged along; they were fascinated by what Harry had told them about yesterday's session. The reality was a bit of a letdown though. Unless one was casting the Legilimens spell or Occlumening there wasn't anything to see, apart from one wizard pointing his wand at another wizard staring back poker faced.
After awhile Harry had his own reason to be disappointed. In spite of a night's rest and greater familiarity with the process his abilities at Occlumency were about the same as they'd been a day earlier. Heinrich assured him that was normal and he really shouldn't have expected to achieve expertise as an Occlumens in such a short time, but Harry wanted to give it a few more tries anyway. When it became clear he'd gotten as far as he was going to get he finally agreed to call it quits.
As Harry seemed none the worse for wear both Ron and Ginny decided they wanted to see if they could block a Legilimency attack, and asked Heinrich to subject them to one. Of course neither could, and neither liked how the intrusion felt at all. The experience reminded Ron of his fight with the brain, and Ginny of her fight with Tom Riddle, so much so that she immediately expressed interest in learning Occlumency too.
The problem was, both Occlumency and Legilimency were magical disciplines far outside the general education curriculum. Only a select few people such as Aurors were officially permitted to study them, and if it wasn't for such a specialized set of circumstances Harry wouldn't be studying the first of the two either. Not that Ginny felt that ought to stop her. If it was good enough for Harry it was good enough for the rest of them.
Unfortunately her options for Legilimens to practice with had narrowed to two: Dumbledore and Snape. The former had considerably more pressing matters to attend to, and the latter was just plain out of the question even if there was an infinitesimal chance he would agree to do it; he wasn't someone Ginny wanted to spend any more time with than she absolutely had to, and Harry had nothing but vituperation for the Potions Master's private tutoring skills.
Heinrich politely took his leave; the lessons were done, and he had a mission to finish preparing for. Without the distraction provided by Occlumency they had to find some other way to occupy themselves, an objective that wouldn't have been especially difficult if they weren't so wound up with anticipation about Hermione.
They gave it their best shot under the circumstances. Harry and Ron started a game of wizard chess and Ginny sat down with a book, but after Ron declared he couldn't concentrate and got up to pace the hallways, Ginny took up his place at the chessboard. They made their moves haphazardly, often failing to notice opportunities to capture pieces despite advice from the pieces themselves, which became increasingly vocal in their dismay.
When Ron stomped back in they gave up on chess as a hopeless cause and dealt out a few hands of exploding snap. That went somewhat better, if only because the sloppy way they were playing led to a higher frequency of explosions and a lot of laughing at each other's expense. Even so, Ron was about to suggest they put the cards away and practice some hexes when muffled sounds of someone down in the main hallway shrieking at the top of her lungs filtered up to them.
Amid smoke and singed eyebrows they briefly made eye contact, then bolted from the room and galloped down the main hallway, where Mrs Weasley and a certain bushy-haired witch were struggling to close the curtains on Mrs. Black's portrait.
"MUDBLOOD FILTH! BLOOD TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE THE HOME OF MY FATHERS!" went the familiar deranged litany. And then Mrs. Black caught sight of Ginny, Harry, and Ron running towards her.
"AAARGH! YOU!" she screamed and slammed the curtains shut on herself.
Stunned, Harry looked back and forth from Ron to Ginny, wondering which one of them was the "you" responsible for making Mrs. Black shut up. Then he remembered his conversation with Remus. His curiosity was piqued. He wanted to see for himself what Ginny did to make Mrs. Black afraid of her.
Now was not the time however. There was a lot of happy noise in the hallway directed at greeting Hermione, much of it produced by the guest of honor herself. They swarmed around taking turns embracing their friend.
"I'm so happy to be here finally! It's like everything's been happening in the last month. Ron! It's GREAT to see you. I couldn't stand being away. I've been so busy but I have the most amazing news. Harry! We have to keep the Defense Association going! After those awful dementors I could hardly stop thinking about you. Ginny! It's so wonderful you made Prefect! We'll be working together I can't wait."
She continued in that vein with them all the way to the kitchen, an amorphous, enchanted mob of juvenile wizards and witches plus Molly Weasley and one ginger cat. When they were settled around the table, Harry scratched behind Crookshanks' ears and marveled again at how Hermione could say so much at once without appearing to breathe.
Mrs Weasley served tea and apologized to Hermione. "I'm so sorry I woke up Mrs. Black, dear. She's been keeping to herself for so long I forgot she was there."
"That's OK, Mrs. Weasley. She can't really hurt anyone anyway can she?" said Hermione.
"Maybe we should wake her up on purpose so Ginny can practice," suggested Ron.
For one of the few times in her life Hermione had a blank look on her face. By now Harry had pretty firm suspicions what relationship Ginny had with the portrait.
"Maybe later," cut in Ginny. "What's this amazing news you have?"
"Oh yes! I've been wanting a Pensieve for so long, and my parents were so happy about my O.W.L. results once I explained what they meant they bought me all the things I need to make one."
Hermione must have expected everyone to be as excited about this news as she was, so she was a little nonplused when the first reaction it elicited was faltering smiles and head scratching.
"Why do you want a Pensieve?" Ron finally asked.
"For goodness sakes Ron, we've got our N.E.W.T.s coming up!" she replied. "It will be dead useful when I'm studying."
"We don't have N.E.W.T.s for two years Hermione! And why are you making it yourself? Couldn't your parents have just bought you one?" asked Ron, who in spite of his bickering leaned affectionately on her shoulder.
"Well of course you can buy one Ron," she huffed, "but they're horridly expensive. A lot of really complex magic goes into them, and they have to be adjusted for each user." Nettled or not, Hermione was leaning on Ron just as affectionately.
Wasn't that interesting. She'd been with them barely five minutes and already Ron and Hermione were bickering. Much as he wished they wouldn't, Harry resigned himself to the inevitable. They couldn't be stopped. They could only be distracted.
"Is that really true?" asked Harry. "Last year Snape borrowed Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve during our Occlumency lessons. He didn't seem to have any problem using it."
Ron looked suspicious. "Why was Snape using Dumbledore's Pensieve?"
"I think he was afraid I might see into his memories if I pushed back," Harry said carefully, "and there were probably some he didn't want me to see." He did not want to reveal that he had in fact seen some of Snape's memories.
"Well anyway," Hermione went on, "a Pensieve will still work if someone else borrows it, but first it has to be tuned to a specific user."
"So what do you have to do to make a Pensieve?" asked Ginny.
"Oh, lots of things. I have to brew a potion that requires a bit of brain tissue and cerebral fluid. That allows it to absorb memory strands and also give them back in the same conditions as they were put in. Then I have to inscribe the outside of the bowl with runes. They can't just be any runes; they have to be chosen to match the witch or wizard. And the potion also has to have powdered bits of the bowl in it so the two can link...."
Harry felt a little ill. He'd plunged his face into that stuff twice.
"Eww!" Ron blanched. "You have to put your brains into it? Why would anyone want a Pensieve if they had to do that!"
"Ron! Honestly! You don't have to put your brains in it. You use a portion of brain tissue. It could be any brain. The earliest Pensieves were tuned by using some of the witch or wizard's brain, but now the runes take care of that... although there is some debate about whether human brains as a general rule might work best. No one has really proven anything one way or the other. I'm definitely not going to use human brain though. You can probably only get it in Knockturn Alley anyway. The really interesting part is selecting the runes. There are so many techniques for that and I've almost settled on one. Professor Dumbledore recommended a great book...."
Happy and relieved as he was to have her there with them, Harry didn't think talking about making a Pensieve needed to take up this much time, especially when it had demonstrated its potential as fodder for another argument. And they had so much catching up on other things to do.
"Hermione?" he interrupted. "I'll bet you make the best Pensieve ever, but you have to tell us what happened with the dementor attack."
"Yeah, we were all really upset when we read that in your letter," said Ron.
Hermione recounted how she and her parents were on a weekend holiday in Brighton walking along a beach at night when two dementors glided in from behind. None of them knew what was happening at first. The air suddenly just went cold, and they were all suddenly glum and cheerless. She was the only one there who could have seen the dementors, and might not have done that in time if her mother's hat hadn't blown off. When they turned around to retrieve it the creatures weren't more than ten yards away.
"You were able to summon up a happy memory when they were that close?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Good for you."
"I couldn't at first," Hermione admitted. "There were just the most horrible things going through my mind. All I could get out of my wand was silvery mist. But that was enough to slow them down. I dragged my parents away and tried again, and the second time my otter came out."
Even though three days had passed since she'd been told about the attack, Mrs. Weasley was still flabbergasted. "Dementors! Roaming loose everywhere! Honestly, Fudge should be put out of office for that alone. I'm so glad you're safe dear. How are your parents?"
"Everyone's fine, thank goodness. They're kind of scared that something so dangerous and invisible to them is out there though. I am too.... And I think my mum's still sort of miffed about losing her hat. We never did find it."
"Did you get a letter from the Ministry?" asked Ginny.
"I was expecting to, especially after what happened to Harry last year. But there wasn't one." said Hermione.
"Maybe they weren't watching you," said Ginny.
"Or maybe somebody there finally realized underage witches getting Kissed is a bigger problem than underage witches doing magic out of school," said Harry.
"What's the matter with underage witches getting kissed?" Ginny huffed with mock indignation.
Harry was taken aback for just a moment, but quickly rallied.
"Well OK, did you have anyone particular in mind?" he asked in return.
When it dawned on them what direction their exchange was moving Harry and Ginny blushed a little. Mrs Weasley hid a smile in her teacup. Ron cocked an eyebrow and smiled at Hermione, who smiled back enigmatically.
"Ummm... so that curse Dolohov threw, is it still bothering you?" Harry asked Hermione to change the subject.
"No effects at all," she answered. "Madam Pomfrey took care of it. But enough about that. Tell me what's been happening here. I feel like I've missed out on so much."
They plunged into that vast expanse of territory with all the enthusiasm of an explorer group on the first leg of a safari. Harry decided the time was right to reveal why he was obligated to stay with the Dursleys every summer, then they went on to the interviews they'd had with the Ministry investigators about the Department of Mysteries (no one there had talked to Hermione yet), Occulmency lessons, and power struggles at the Ministry, including the plot hatched in that very kitchen to elevate Arthur to Minister at an opportune moment.
But when Harry started to tell her his dream about Voldemort and the Book of Serpents, Mrs Weasley visibly tensed up. He was treading too near to The Order's affairs. The old anger started rising in him, and he had to fight it back down. Now that they had all dueled with England's most notorious Dark wizards and survived, it was pointless at best to keep them in the dark about the fight against Voldemort. If only she knew how much everything that had to do with defeating the Dark Lord pertained to him. Harry came very close to telling them the prophesy just then. The conflict within him over that decision must have been playing out on his face, because Hermione was studying him intently.
Fortunately lunch was almost upon them, and when Ron suggested, again, that they have a picnic in the garden the four teens were immediately in favor of it. Reluctantly, Molly gave in. She wasn't so naive as to suppose Harry wouldn't tell the others all about The Order's meeting, but it would be easier for everyone to pretend if they weren't all in the same room.
Once outside and settled down, Hermione turned to Harry. "You were about to tell us something just then, weren't you?"
Not much got past Hermione, that was for sure. He was back to feeling conflicted. There was no way to avoid it though, either he was going to tell them about the prophesy or he wasn't.
Harry sucked in his breath noisily, and exhaled just as noisily through puffed out cheeks. He decided it could wait.
"Do you know what The Book of Serpents is, or what it's about?" he asked.
"No, I... The Book of Serpents?" Hermione rubbed at her temples with her fingertips for what seemed like a full minute, but was probably a quarter that. "I don't think I've heard of it," she said slowly.
"What do you mean you don't 'think' you've heard of it," asked Ron.
"It seems like something I should have heard of, or that I may have seen a one line reference to it somewhere," said Hermione, shaking her head. "I just can't remember."
"Well whatever it is, the Death Eaters have it," supplied Ginny.
"And Voldemort is planning to use it for... something," said Harry.
"Such as?" asked Hermione.
"That's the part I can't remember," said Harry.
"I assume you're talking about a dream you had," said Hermione.
"Right in one," said Harry.
"Well, perhaps if you'd start from the beginning," said Hermione.
"Oh, yeah," said Harry sheepishly. He went into as detailed an account of what he'd seen and heard as he could remember, and afterwards Hermione was thoughtful.
"Are you sure V-Voldemort wasn't just sending you another false image," she asked after awhile.
"Positive," said Harry. "At The Order's meeting two days ago Snape confirmed my description of the room and all the Death Eaters in it."
"Professor Snape was there?" asked Hermione. Harry had neglected to mention that detail.
"Yeah. I guess it's part of spying for Dumbledore," said Harry.
"I'll bet he's really spying for You-Know-Who," Ron said scornfully.
"OK, so it was real," said Hermione. "But you really can't remember what he said The Book of Serpents was for?
Harry shrugged and shook his head.
"Or what they were looking for in Central Asia?" she asked.
Harry made the same gesture. "I'm pretty sure he didn't say."
"Or what his 'invisible weapons' was?"
By now Harry was abject. "They were starting to talk about that, but I was so tired I blacked out."
He looked disconsolately around the raggedy garden. A battered six foot wooden pole leaning up against a wall triggered a half-formed memory.
"The staff..." he whispered.
"What? What about a staff?" asked Ginny, who'd been content to listen until then.
"Voldemort mentioned a staff," said Harry. He beat on his temples with the palms of his hands, struggling to grasp hold of the other half of his memory. It was shimmying in the shadows, taunting him.
"The Staff of Serpents?" joked Ron.
"Ron! This is important! Don't distract him like that," scolded Hermione.
"YES!" Harry yelled abruptly, looking up. "That's it, The Staff of Serpents!"
"Harry, you're mental. I was just joking," said Ron, somewhat disconcerted.
"Well that's what he said! I know it!" Harry insisted excitedly.
"What did V-Voldemort say about the Staff of Serpents," asked Hermione, encouraged that they were making progress.
Harry's expression faltered. He racked his brain, hoping that the staff's emergence would cause whatever information he had about it to come trundling out too. It was not to be. Once again, all he could do was shrug and shake his head.
"Well it's a start isn't it?" said Hermione. "It seems logical to assume The Book of Serpents and The Staff of Serpents must have something to do with each other. You know what Harry? I think you should try putting that dream in Dumbledore's Pensieve. We might be able to see the missing parts."
"What good will that do if he can't remember it?" Ron asked dismissively.
"I think Harry remembers more of it than he's consciously aware of," replied Hermione. "A Pensieve will capture all that, whether he can tell us the whole thing or not."
Harry readily agreed that that was a good idea. It was such a good idea he considered it a settled matter, and thought no more about it. And as they moved on to discuss what had been said at recent meetings of The Order, he quite forgot he was supposed to do it.
A/N: "Umnebel" is derived from the German word "umnebeln," which means "befogged" or "to befog." After considering and rejecting a number of possible nicknames Tonks might have for Remus, I settled on "Rheumy" because it is close to his real name, rhymes with "Moony," and obliquely refers to the age difference between them.