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Author: Faelaern Story: In Memoriam Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 50,063
Can you ever imagine what it's like Harry sat in the Weasleys' living room alone, the only sound that of quill scratching on parchment as he rewrote his speech for the memorial. Outside, the setting sun could just be seen over the trees. It felt odd being alone here, in a house that normally had so many people in it, even though it still wasn't empty by far. Karl was outside strengthening the wards, assisted by Bill and Fleur. Ron and Ginny were degnoming the garden, Mr. Weasley was upstairs sleeping, and Lupin was sitting alone at the kitchen table, going over notes on what appeared to be his own speech for the memorial. Fred and George had returned to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shortly after lunch, and Mrs. Weasley was still with Dumbledore, though she had spoken with Lupin via the Floo Network to confirm that she'd reached Hogwarts. Harry honestly didn't know where she got the energy to do all of this; she mustn't have had much sleep at all last night, and both she and Mr. Weasley looked exhausted. Harry returned to his writing and was nearing completion when Ron walked into the room. He was dirty and sweaty, but smiling. "You should have seen Ginny throw that last gnome, mate," he said, flopping down on the sofa opposite Harry. Harry set his quill down and put the cap on his ink. "How far?" "It went far enough that I couldn't see it land. She's right pissed off at Fudge and the Ministry, even more so than Mum and Dad, though not as much as you or Lupin, from what Bill said." Following the meeting Bill had discreetly taken Ron and Ginny outside to fill them in on the events discussed therein, which is why Harry had the time to sit alone to revise his speech. "Anyway, she was a bit distracted when she picked up the last gnome, and it bit her. Little bugger never knew what hit it, I'm telling you," said Ron. "Is she all right?" asked Harry. Ron threw him a look. "Of course she's all right, Harry. You've been bitten by a gnome before – and besides, what's a little gnome bite to her after… well, after facing down Death Eaters." Harry reddened, embarrassed. "Oh. Right." "I reckon it's because of Percy," said Ron. "What's that?" Harry asked. "The reason Ginny's so mad at the Ministry. Out of all of us, Ginny got along best with Percy. He used to look out for her a little, you know? So after Mum and Dad, what he did hurt her the most." "You've still heard nothing from him, after that letter?" "Not a word. He hasn't even sent an owl," Ron said, shaking his head slowly. Harry sighed heavily. "It scares me, Ron." "Me too, mate," said Ron, who didn't even have to ask what 'it' was. "All this pain and the war's only just begun." Harry was silent for a while, his eyes meeting Ron's, reflecting on his friend's unusually somber statement. Finally he said, "My greatest fear now is that Cedric and Sirius are only the beginning. We all know how bad it was during the last war. This one's only just begun." "That's been keeping me up as well. D'you remember Mum's boggart?" Ron asked. "Back at Grimmauld Place? Yeah." "We're a big family, Harry. And… and big families don't always do so well in wars." Harry was struck speechless. They sat there in silence for what seemed like ages. The sun had already fully set by the time they spoke again, though for all Harry knew it had been dark for hours, so little was he paying attention to the outside world at the time. Finally Harry broke the silence. "I don't know what to say to that, Ron, other then that I'll stand by you, Hermione, and every member of this family. I'd give my life for any of you in a heartbeat." "As we would for you, Harry," Ginny's voice cut in. Harry looked up. She had showered and changed; her hair was still slightly wet. "Oh. Ginny. Sorry, have you been there long? I…we didn't mean to ignore you or anything." "It's all right, I walked in on the two of you sitting in silence a moment ago. I went to the kitchen but Bill told me to let you know that he's almost done making dinner. You'd better wash up, Ron." "I know! I'm not a complete prat," said Ron, looking annoyed. He nodded at Harry, stood up, and headed for the stairs. "It must have been odd walking in on a statement like that," Harry said. "Odd? No. We're about to fight a war. Your statement was open and honest, and that's healthy during times like this," said Ginny. "Can I give you another one?" Harry asked. "Always," said Ginny. "I don't want you or any member of your family putting your lives on the line for me. I don't think I could take it if one of you died because of me." Ginny looked at him. "That's very selfish, Harry." "Selfish? How is not wanting you to die selfish?" Harry asked, indignantly. "You're okay with putting your own life on the line for us, but you won't let us do the same for you? Don't you realize what you mean to us? I'm sorry, but if you're in trouble and we have a chance to save your life, we're going to take it, forget the risk involved. You mean that much to us." Harry looked deep into Ginny's eyes and saw that she meant every word. He recognized his own resolute stubbornness mirrored in those twin pools of deep brown, and realized that Ginny's mind couldn't be changed. For some strange, unknown reason, this brought him an immense feeling of relief. He was about to thank her when Bill's voice called from the kitchen. "Dinner is served! Get in here, you lot." *** Hermione arrived the following evening, an hour or so before dinnertime. Ron had been pacing about nervously all day, and had changed his clothes several times. He was presently in Ginny's room, no doubt asking for details about what to say and not say to girls. Harry smiled to himself at the thought of Ron and Hermione together. He had realized that his best friends had feelings for each other over the course of fourth year. It took Ron a while to cotton on to his own feelings, but it was obvious that he now knew what he felt. A small part of Harry was angry at Ron for his obsessive behavior; no one should be able to feel that giddy the day before a memorial. Remembering their conversation the previous day, however, he held his tongue. Harry was by now used to the reality that his enemies could try to snuff out his life at any given moment. It was a weight he had learned to carry after a long while, but it was a recent burden on Ron's shoulders. If obsessing about Hermione could take Ron's mind off things, Harry could be more than content to let him do so. This had left him with another long stretch of time to himself, and as he'd finished his speech last night, he'd thought he may as well get some homework done. The slamming of a car door outside caused Harry to look up from his Transfiguration essay. Setting down his quill and parchment, he got up to answer the door, but was beaten to the punch by Ron, who ran past him at top speed and threw open the door. Ginny came down the stairs after him, trying unsuccessfully to conceal a smile at her brother's antics, but managing not to giggle. Harry caught her eye and they shared a smile before following Ron outside. Ginny came down the stairs after him, trying unsuccessfully to conceal a smile at her brother's antics, but managing not to giggle. Harry caught her eye and they shared a smile before following Ron outside. Harry shook his head, then broke in, saying, "Good to see you, Hermione." The bushy-haired girl seemed to suddenly realize that she hadn't let go of Ron, and her face turned pink as she broke away from the already-blushing Ron. "Harry!" she said, running over and grabbing him in a hug that didn't last nearly as long as Ron's had. "I was so happy when Ron wrote to say you'd be escaping your relatives this early." Harry couldn't resist ribbing her a little. "Happy because Ron wrote or happy because I got away from my relatives early?" he asked, grinning. Hermione kept a completely straight face. "Both. Hello, Ginny." With that, she walked over and gave Ginny a quick hug as well. Ginny whispered something in Hermione's ear which caused them both to giggle. Glancing sideways at Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Harry saw that they were now looking from Ron to Hermione, and back to each other, and smiling. Just then the door opened again and Lupin joined them. He walked over to Hermione's parents and shook their hands. "You must be Hermione's parents. I'm Remus Lupin, her old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm keeping an eye on things while Arthur and Molly are resting. Please, come on inside. Ron, would you like to help Hermione with her luggage?" Harry was about to ask why Lupin just didn't move the stuff into the house with magic, but was stopped when Ron said, "Already on it," ran to the Granger's car, and lifted Hermione's heavy trunk with a grunt. Hermione smiled warmly at Ron before grabbing Crookshanks' basket and moving into the house after him. Harry grinned at Ginny. "Is it me, or are they finally going somewhere?" "I'd say they've been going somewhere for a while now," said Ginny. "They're just moving at a slow pace." "You must be speaking diplomatically, because I've seen faster Flobberworms," Harry said incredulously. Ginny smiled at him, shaking her head. "Of all the words you could use to describe a relationship, you picked 'Flobberworm'." Harry shrugged and grinned as well. "First thing that came to mind," he said. "Can you think of anything slower than a Flobberworm?" "You, Mr. Potter, some of the time," Ginny replied. Harry could read the teasing glint in her eyes, and decided to play along. "Oh really? And just when do I qualify as 'slow'?" Ginny smirked. "You have your moments, Harry, and that's all I'm saying." Harry laughed and held the door open for her. "Ever the gentleman," she said, smiling. Harry started to smile but she finished with "…but you're still slow sometimes," and ran for the stairs. Harry laughed and chased her, catching her in the living room and lightly shoving her onto the sofa. He threw himself next to her and poked her in the side. To his surprise, she let out a squeak. He continued to laugh along with her but it was forced. Something had stirred within him. That squeak had been…sexy? Hold on a minute, Harry, you're finding a squeak attractive? Get in line with Mad-Eye and Dumbledore, you've just lost your mind. "Harry? Are you alright?" Ginny's voice brought him back to reality and Harry realized that he'd stopped laughing and was staring at her. "Oh…yeah, er, fine. I'd better get washed up, we're having dinner shortly." He got up and quickly ran up the stairs. *** It was all he could do to force himself to go downstairs when Karl knocked on Ron's door to announce that dinner was ready. He'd been blushing nonstop since he'd thrown himself onto his bed. He finally sobered up when he realized that details of the upcoming funeral were likely to be the topic of discussion. He arrived in the kitchen to find that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were now awake and setting up tables outside while Hermione's parents looked on in awe. Bill and Fleur had arrived from work; they both looked exhausted. The meal was a stew of Lupin's preparation, and it smelled quite good. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were carrying silverware out to the garden, and Karl seemed to be running checks on the wards he'd set up around the perimeter. Harry grabbed a breadboard with a freshly sliced loaf that smelled homemade, and carried it out, helping to set up and carefully avoiding Ginny's eyes. Ten minutes later they were all sitting down to eat. "Excellent cooking, Remus, what do you call this?" asked Bill, in between spoonfuls. "Um… Werewolf Stew?" Lupin offered, grinning. "Honestly, Remus, it's quite good, where did you get the recipe?" asked Mrs. Weasley. Harry had the feeling that she was trying to avoid bringing up tomorrow's funeral, but thought he was perhaps being a bit unfair, so said nothing. "Would you believe I made it up?" said Lupin, with a laugh. Everyone joined in laughing, including Harry, who was glad to see Lupin laugh; he'd been grim and somber ever since… ever since Sirius died. Harry stopped laughing but quickly covered his reaction by taking a bite of bread. The topic didn't touch on Sirius' memorial until halfway through the meal, when, after a minute or two of everyone eating in silence, Mr. Weasley spoke. "We'd best bring the lot of you up to date on the details for tomorrow's service," he said with a sigh. Lupin's smile vanished as if it had never been there. "Yes, I quite agree. Everything is in order? There were a fair amount of people who had to be notified about the change in location, and owls definitely weren't an option." "Hagrid, Minerva, Arthur, and I made the notifications personally," said Mrs. Weasley. "They'll all be there." "I imagine we're working in some kind of order, here?" Harry asked. "Yes," said Mr. Weasley. "You, Remus, and the Tonks family will be standing around..." he paused and lowered his voice respectfully. "… some pictures of Sirius and a few of his prized possessions. We've set up a shrine of sorts. One by one the mourners will enter to pay their respects." Harry didn't like this idea at all. The concept of standing around blatant reminders of Sirius and being forced to introduce himself and make conversation with who-knows-how-many-people whilst they stared at his scar was not his idea of a healing experience. "How many people will be there?" he asked, trying not to let the sudden weariness that had come over him show in his voice. Evidently he was not good enough at concealing his emotions, because everyone at the table looked at him with concerned expressions. "It'll be the members of the Order who knew Sirius, the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Lovegoods, and Neville and his grandmother," Bill said. "How many people is that?" Harry asked tentatively. "I don't know offhand, can't be much more than thirty or forty," said Bill with a shrug. "You'll already have met most of the people there, of course," added Mr. Weasley. This came as a relief; Harry supposed he could deal with a few unknown people staring at his scar if he'd met most of the people there. "What happens after that?" he asked. Lupin took over at this point, launching into full details of what would happen and when, and explaining to Hermione's parents and Harry the basic points of etiquette for a memorial service in the Wizarding World. This was emotionally exhausting for Harry, and by the time they'd finished covering all the necessary points, he had just enough energy left to climb the stairs to Ron's room, remove his shoes, and collapse into bed.
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