Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Memories Of A Past Life ❯ Chapter 3

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Ok I'm back, and I just wanted to say that the `big storm that will freeze the roads and make everything get shut down' was in reality just a lot of rain, and frosty lawns, cars, and roofs. Nothing should have been shut down, but all of WFISD and CVISD was shut down, which I thought was stupid. Oh well. Here we go again!

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
You've gone away, you don't feel me, here anymore

Broken by Seether feat Amy Lee

Harry ran up the stairs and knocked on Ginny's door, knowing full well that she wasn't going to answer.

“Ginny, your mom said to come down for dinner…I know you're mad at me, but please come down, I have to make an announcement” Harry called softly. Hoping she would come and open the door, Harry waited for a few minutes. When she did not, he sighed and turned to go up the stairs and collect George, who'd been staying home in Percy's old room, as he had been unable to face the flat or the room that he had shared with Fred.

“George, its time for dinner.” George opened the door and walked down the stairs, his eyes blood shot from crying. George was handling the loss of Fred as well as could be expected, and he spent a lot of time thinking of him, and ways to make him proud.

As George walked down the stairs without saying a word, Harry watched him and silently hoped that George would be ok, and that he would get back to the joke shop, and be able to smile again soon. He knew how hard it was to lose a loved one, but he also knew the best way to make them proud was to continue living and think about the happy times with the deceased, not locking yourself in your room. Sirius told him so.

After watching George walk down the stairs, Harry turned and walked up the stairs for Ron and Hermione. He knocked on the door and said “Dinners ready”, then turned and walked back down the stairs. He heard the door open but continued on anyways, not wanting to ask them why they forgot about him.

Ron and Hermione watched him walk away, and wondered why he wasn't waiting for them. Well, Hermione was, Ron was too busy wondering what was for dinner and just assumed that Harry was hungry, like he was.

Hermione slowly walked behind Ron, who was (im)patiently waiting for her to hurry up so he can eat.

“Come on, Hermione, I'm hungry!” Ron whined. “Ron! Something's up with Harry, usually he walks to dinner with us!” Hermione scolded Ron, knowing that he hadn't picked up on his friend's behavior.

“Well, figure it out after we eat, I'm hungry!” Ron exclaimed. Hermione laughed and they hurried down the stairs, Harry and his strange behavior forgotten.

While Ron and Hermione were coming down the stairs, Harry had already gone into the kitchen, set the table, and convinced Mrs. Weasley to keep the fact that he was cooking his Departing Meal, as she had begun calling it, between the two of them (“After all, if they knew I was cooking it, they might not want to eat it,” he reasoned).

Ron sat down between Ginny and Hermione, and began piling his plate with food. Harry sat next to George, and slowly began to fix his own plate. Mrs. Weasley sat on the other side of George beside Mr. Weasley, who had just gotten home from a long day at work.

They ate while Arthur told Molly of his day at work, and Harry wondered how he was going to make his announcement. Dinner was almost over when during a lull in the conversation, Mrs. Weasley turned and said, “Harry dear, don't you have something to tell everyone?”

“Oh! Um, yes, I was just, uh, I mean” Harry stared nervously, having been caught off guard by Mrs. Weasley calling him out in front of everyone. He stopped and cleared his throat before starting out again. “What I mean is that in two days I will be leaving. I'm moving out of the Burrow.”

Everyone but Mrs. Weasley stared at Harry in shock. He hadn't given any sign that he was thinking of moving out. Harry took advantage of the stunned silence and stood up, saying that he had promised to visit Teddy today.

As soon as he left, Ron turned to his mother and exclaimed “You knew! Why did he tell you first and not us?! You know what, never mind that, why didn't you talk him out of it?!”

“Well, Ron, I expect he told me first because the two of you have been ignoring him in favor your new relationship. Don't get me wrong, we are happy that the two of you finally got together, but that doesn't mean I like the way you are ignoring your best friend. And I didn't talk him out of it because it's not my place. As much as I love him, and think of him as my own, the truth of the matter is he is not my son, and I do not have the right to ask him to stay.”

Ron squirmed in his seat, realizing that his mother was right. They HAD been ignoring Harry ever since they had gotten back to the Burrow. He thought back to the day he asked Hermione to move into his room with him, and then he thought to when he talked to his parents about it. `I never talked to Harry about that' He thought with despair. `I mean, I know it's MY room, but Harry usually stays with me, and now he is by himself. I never asked him if he didn't mind moving into Bill's room. And we haven't really been talking to him lately. Oh Merlin, we were supposed to meet Harry for ice cream at Fortescue's, and we never showed up! How did I not realize that we were ignoring him?!'

Hermione had also come to this realization, but while she knew that she needed to make amends to the man who was like a brother to her, she also wanted to know all the facts before trying to talk to him about her mistakes, and knew that if Harry honestly felt like he should move out, the best way for him to know that she truly was sorry was to help him with whatever he needed to do.

Ginny didn't want Harry to leave. Even though she had been ignoring him, she still loved him. She was just angry at him for making her think that he was dead. `I really shouldn't be angry with Harry.' She thought. `I should be angry with Riddle. I mean, he had to have done something to Harry for him to have thought Harry was dead.' She decided that she would sort out her feelings before talking to Harry. She hoped that she would be ready before he moved out, and if not, they would be back at Hogwarts together in three weeks, that would give her plenty of time to figure out what she wanted to say.

“Mrs. Weasley,” began Hermione. “Did Harry say why he was leaving?”

Ron and Ginny both immediately stopped there musings when they heard Hermione ask this question. They both wanted more information to better help plan their apologies.

“He didn't really say. Just that he felt like he should get his own place.”

“Did he say where?” Ron asked.

Mrs. Weasley's lips thinned, showing her displeasure at Harry's choice of a future home for himself. “Grimmuald Place. He says that Kreature has shaped up to be quite the loyal house elf, and that it was a very safe location, seeing as how he and Bill went back and fixed so that he was the only Secret Keeper, and only people who were Order Members and his friends could get in.”

“But that house isn't fit for a person to live in!” George exclaimed, Ginny and Ron both voicing their agreements.

“Well, tell him that. He mentioned that it was in better shape than his house in Godric's Hollow, although how he knows that is beyond me, because as far as I know, no one ever took him there,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“We went last Christmas,” Hermione said in a quiet voice.

“…How did Harry react?” Ginny asked quietly, not wanting to, yet NEEDING to know how he had faired when faced with the physical proof of the life he lost that he remembers nothing about.

“We went to his parent's grave first,” Hermione said, as though answering a different question then the one that had been asked. “It took us a while to find them. When we did, he-“ she faltered, remembering how he had sobbed. That was the only time Hermione had ever seen Harry cry. “He didn't take it very well.” She finished, voice shaking slightly, his anguished cries echoing in her memory.

Ginny nodded slowly, she hadn't thought he would. The few times he had ever talked to her about anything of his time before Hogwarts, he always sounded as though he spoke of someone else's life, like he was seeing it from another person's point of view.

“After that, we saw the house. There was a plaque on the front gate, it said

On this spot, on the night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives. Their son, Harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family”. (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, CHAPTER 17)

Everyone looked at her with wide eyes.

“How do you do that?” Ron demanded. Hermione ignored him and continued talking.

“It also had a bunch of graffiti on it. Mostly people saying that they had faith in Harry and that they were with him.” Hermione finished.

“I'll bet that made him feel better. It sounds like those were some of the things he probably really needed to hear after seeing his parents' graves.” Ginny said, realizing what that would have meant to Harry.

“It did, actually. I remember I said it was disrespectful, but he said it was brilliant,” Hermione confirmed.

“What did the three of you do then?” Arthur asked.

Ron paled and was about to speak, when the sound of apparition alerted everyone to the arrival of another person. Mrs. Weasley glanced at the clock and said “It's Harry, we will finish this conversation at another time, only I want to hear the story from the beginning, starting from what Harry was doing with Dumbledore the night he died, understood?”

Ron and Hermione nodded and began levitating their plates along with Harry's just as he walked through the door.

“I forgot to get my photo album,” He mumbled as he walked towards the stairs.

“Why do you need your photo album, Harry?” Mr. Weasley asked.

Harry stopped and spoke, still facing the stairs. “Because Mrs. Tonks doesn't have any pictures of Mooney, and I always show him pictures of his Dad. I know he's too young to really understand, but I figured this way, he'd always know, and never have to wonder what his dad looked like, like I had to when I was little.”

And with that, Harry hurried up the stairs, coming back down a few seconds later with the worn book tucked safely in his arms. He was back out the door and aparating away before anyone could ask him what he meant by that.

“Why did he have to wonder what his dad looked like?” Mrs. Weasley asked, before shaking her head and picking up the dirty dishes that were still on the table and levitating them into the sink and beginning to run water.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walked up the stairs while George headed outside to Fred's grave and Mr. Weasley stayed behind to help his wife with the dishes.

When they got to Ginny's room, she turned to go in when Ron asked if he and Hermione could talk to her. She shrugged and left the door open for them to come in behind her. Ron let Hermione in first, and then shut the door behind him.

“Do you know why Harry wants to move out?” He asked her, not wanting to waste anytime.

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him for his bluntness, and answered “Not a clue. I haven't spoken to him since before the battle was over.”

“So you're still ignoring him, then?” Hermione asked.

“Before his announcement, I was. Now, I just want to talk to him and pretend that we never broke up. I don't know why I suddenly feel like I'm going to die if I don't kiss him again soon” Ginny said, deciding to be honest. Maybe Hermione could help her figure out why her mood concerning Harry suddenly did a three-sixty when he said he was leaving. But why did she mention how badly she wanted to kiss him?

“GINNY! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THAT!” Ah, there is the reason she mentioned the kissing. It was always fun to see how red she could make her brother go…

“You probably feel like that because now you are faced with the fact that he is going to be leaving, and you want get to see him whenever you want like you can while he is living here” Hermione rationalized.

Ginny nodded. “Yea, you're probably right”

Ron sat there, thinking about what he could do to keep his friend from leaving. “Do you think he will still move out when we apologize to him?” He asked Hermione and Ginny.

“I don't know Ron, if he feels like this is something he has to do for himself, than we should let him be. Besides, don't you think that maybe this will be easier when we leave?”

“Where are you going?” Ginny asked, having not heard anything about the two of them leaving.

“We still have to go and get my parents. So we are leaving in three days to get them. We should be back by the end of next week” Hermione explained.

“So you are leaving the day after Harry is supposed to.” Ginny surmised.

“Yea” Said Ron.

“Oh, well, I hope you find them” Ginny said said, not really sure what to think of them leaving them alone for a week.

While they were having this conversation, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were having a similar one.

“How can we convince him to stay here for a little while, Arthur?” Mrs. Weasley fretted, while handing him a wet, but clean dish.

“I don't know, Mollywobbles” Arthur said, taking the dish and drying it before putting them up in the correct cupboard. Doing dishes the muggle way always gave them the chance to discuss things since the kids never interrupted, always worried that their parents would rope them in to help with them.

“I don't like the idea of him being all alone in a house as big as that one, let alone in one that is in such bad shape. That's not even the worst part. He'll be all alone in a house that his godfather was kept locked up in before he died. What kind of memories will he have there?” Mrs. Weasley pressed, hoping that her husband of so many years would find a solution if she continued. She was not disappointed.

“Maybe I can convince him to stay here while he does repairs on the place” Arthur mused. “That way, he can do a complete work over on the house, with out being stuck inside there all day.”

“That's brilliant, Arthur!” Molly cried, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him in one of her signature hugs.

“I'm glad you think so, Molly” Arthur chuckled, long used to her hugs.

“You will bring it up at breakfast tomorrow” Molly stated, turning to banish the water from the sink.

“Yes, Dear”

Meanwhile, Harry was at Andromedia Tonks' home, telling his godson a story that his godfather had told him about a prank the Marauders had pulled back when they were in school

“-and so when he opened the box, he was covered in pink smoke, and then he was dressed up like an American muggle woman from the sixties, and started dancing and singing a song by some female muggle singer named Ann Wilson. From what Sirius told me, your dad could sing in a high pitched voice fairly well for a bloke.”

Teddy gurgled, having absolutely no idea as to what Harry was saying, just knowing that he was being held by and talked to by the black haired, green eyed man who came by every day (Harry got contacts because he realized that his glasses were not safe whenever a curious baby who could barely control its arms and fingers was near his face.)

Teddy yawned, worn out by his visit from Harry. Harry laughed and got up to lay him down for bed. He changed him, fed him, and then burped him, before finally laying him down.

When he got back into the living room where Mrs. Tonks was sleeping, Harry found her sound asleep on the couch. He chuckled softly before covering her up with a blanket and turned on the baby monitor that was next to her. He walked out the front door, closed and locked it, before apparating back to the Burrow to get some sleep before he was awakened by his nightmares.

OK, so here is an extra long chapter, FFN has decided to be a shit and not upload this chapter for some reason. Newayz, I can'tupload anything else until Thursday, so you get tho thuper long onetoday to make up for that. Now the next chapter will determine if Harry moves out or not, and whether or not Harry and Ginny will be together again before they get back to school. Now a quick question…does anyone know the Latin words for memories and view?

Thanks again to all those who reviewed, and to all those that put a story alert and/or favorite on this epic adventure.