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I would love to be able to say that I own Harry Potter. I wish I could tell you that I know what will happen in the future of the story. But I can’t. I’m just a humble fan, and I don’t know how it will end.
I can predict, however. And this is my nonprofit prediction.
Ginny was a little irate once they returned to Gryffindor tower.
“How dare you not tell me Tom Riddle’s diary was mixed up in all this!” she yelled. “I have a right to know if what he did to me is in any way related to what you’re doing now! I cannot believe you would be so foolish as to think that you have the right to just not tell me something like that.”
“I didn’t mean to not tell you,” Harry told her. “It just isn’t that important. I wiped everything Voldemort left in that diary out of it four years ago. I think the Malfoys have it now. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but it really doesn’t matter now. The diary cannot hurt anyone again. And now, no one will be hurt by that locket either. The battle’s half over. Three more of those and we’re home free.”
“So what are we looking for now?” she asked.
“A cup that used to belong to Helga Hufflepuff. Any ideas?”
Ginny scowled. “No.”
The next day was Harry’s birthday.
He had almost forgotten, with everything that had happened, but he was startled, when he got down to the Great Hall for breakfast, that the entire Weasley family, except Percy (who was still not speaking to them) and Bill (who was still on his honeymoon) was there waiting for him, under a banner that read, “Happy Birthday, Harry.”
They sat down to eat, and Harry enjoyed the conversation immensely, but he knew he had work to do and couldn’t allow the mere fact of his birthday to disrupt it. Before he could bring that up, however, Ginny spoke up.
“Now,” she said, “I know you have things to do, so we decided to make it a short party. But we brought you presents…” Mr. Weasley waved his wand and a large pile of gifts appeared… “and we’re telling you to take the morning off. Have some fun. We brought brooms!”
Harry frowned. He really wanted to have a break, play some Qudditch…but could he allow himself to take that kind of time? Voldemort could do so much damage before he had the chance to do anything about it, and he wanted to keep looking. Ron and Hermione seemed similarly hesitant.
“Harry,” Ginny told him, “you’ve earned a break after yesterday. A little one will help you work faster.”
Harry nodded. “You’re right. Let’s play!”
He started to open his presents. There were all kinds of things there. Ron and Hermione had given him a case for his broom, and Bill and Fleur and bought him a wand holster. Charlie had given him a dragon hide jacket, and Fred and George had brought him a box containing at least one of every item in their shop. Ginny gave him a picture that Colin Creevy had taken of them the year before in a gold frame. Lupin had sent him a letter, with instructions on the outside not to open it until he was alone. All in all, however, his best gift was from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
He opened a small, thin package to discover a clock hand with his name on it. It matched the other hands on their family clock perfectly. Mr. Weasley took it from him. “I’ll put it on as soon as we get home this afternoon,” he said.
Harry didn’t know what to say. “This is just…too much,” he told them. “You didn’t have to…”
“And also,” said Mrs. Weasley, “I’ve had just about enough of this ‘Mrs. Wealsey’ business, understand? You can call us Molly and Arthur, or Mum and Dad, it’s your choice, but after all this time, it’s ridiculous to expect that we would want to be so formal.”
Harry couldn’t answer her without getting choked up, but he was spared in immediate response when the twins’ box of goodies set off a firework that released a cloud of Peruvian instant darkness powder. The whole family grouped together and groped their way to the exit, laughing.
After a game of Quidditch (in which he, Ron, and Ginny flattened Fred, George, and Charlie) Harry was feeling very good indeed about his decision to take a morning off from work. That afternoon, however, they went right back to it. Hermione had drawn up a list of things they needed to know:
What was in the potion Dumbledore drank?
Why did Snape kill Dumbledore?
Where is Hufflepuff’s cup now?
Did Ravenclaw leave any artifacts behind?
Did Gryffindor leave any artifacts other than his sword behind?
How is Harry supposed to kill Voldemort?
Where is Voldemort’s stronghold located?
Harry felt that starting with the first one was a good place to begin. Hermione agreed, since they had Regulus’ work on Capturing Potions to work out of, they began by opening his notebook and reading his notes on the subject.
Capturing Potions
Purpose:
To imprison the drinker and put all his knowledge under the control of a single individual.
Key ingredients:
Moonstone
Monkshood
Asphodel
How it works:
The potion will force the drinker to relive his darkest fears. Depending on the strength of will of the individual, it will, over time, eat away at their mental defenses until it makes a virtual slave of them. The potion also drains the drinker of magical power, meaning that only the most rudimentary spells will be available to him, and then only for a short time. By the time their mental defenses are overridden, the drinker is as a Squib. At this point, the drinker will then seek out the one who made the potion, who is their new master. There is no antidote to this potion.
There followed a complex, many-paged set of minor ingredients, instructions on how to make the potion, and cautions on how not to screw it up.
Harry scowled. “This is it,” he said, “but how do we apply it?”
“Well,” Hermione responded, “we know that Dumbledore was about to be enslaved, probably by Voldemort. We know he had very little power with which to defend himself, and you can see that by the way he only used very rudimentary spells at all after he drank the potion. Petrificus Totalus…we’ve been able to do that since first year. Dumbledore didn’t use anything fancier because he couldn’t. Think about it – if he’d been able to, he could have disarmed Malfoy, then run downstairs and stunned all the Death Eaters if he wanted to. And if everything he knew was about to go to Voldemort, he would rather have died. I think we can present this tonight, and decide where to go from there.”
That night, the Order met as usual. The same reports were given about the same things as always, and then it was Harry’s turn. The other members turned to him, no doubt expecting the usual “everything’s good” line, but they were all about to be surprised.
“Since we were last at a meeting,” said Harry, “we have accomplished one of the things we needed to do before Voldemort can be killed. Three more remain, and if anyone knows anything about objects said to belong to one of the Hogwarts founders, especially a cup belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, it would be appreciated.
“We also have come across information about Dumbledore’s death that sheds new light on exactly what Snape’s motive might have been. The night he died, Dumbledore drank a potion that weakened him considerably. He was unable to Apparate by himself, and when we arrived at the tower, instead of Disarming Malfoy, he Petrified me. I believe it was because he drank a Capturing Potion and was unable to work that spell.”
This announcement was greeted with silence by the rest of the Order.
“But, Harry,” interjected Tonks, “you can’t mean that Dumbledore wanted to die. Why wouldn’t he just let Malfoy kill him, if that was the case?”
“Dumbledore believed Malfoy could be saved,” said Harry. “He never would have doubted it. That’s what he did. He believed in people. He trusted Snape. Maybe we should trust that, at least until we know otherwise.”
Harry knew that this was unlikely to go over well. He had not even mentioned that he planned to say this to Ron or Hermione, partly because he couldn’t believe that he would say it. But he knew that this, more than anything, was what Dumbledore would have wanted, and that it was finally time for him to learn that lesson, once and for all. He could think of no better way to honor Dumbledore’s memory.
A/N: Don't flame me for this. I am not a fan of Snape, I never have been and I never will be. I've gotten enough hate mail about this to last me a lifetime, some of it from friends of mine. So please, don't hate me.
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