Mirror
Chapter Three~~~Unfair
Harry and Snape stood absolutely still for several minutes, staring coldly at each other. Snape seemed to have recovered his composure, for his fleeting appearance of being afraid had vanished. Harry began to wonder if he hadn’t imagined it. While Harry’s insides boiled, he couldn’t think of another being on earth that he hated more than Professor Severus Snape. He had made Sirius’ life as hard as possible, mocking him, and sneering at him. Right up to his death. Harry decided that he had better leave the room before he leapt on Snape and throttled the life out of him.
As Harry passed Snape to get to the stairs he half expected to hear a snide remark, or some sign of disgust. He heard nothing, however, and felt a twinge of disappointment. He would have dearly loved an excuse to jinx him. He just kept walking, however, keeping his eyes downcast.
The stairs creaked and moaned loudly as he walked. Dusted coated his hand as he grabbed onto the handrail. The farther Harry went, the more he noticed how run-down the place had become without Sirius to keep it clean. Nobody had appreciated Sirius’ efforts. Now they were sorry. Pictures of relatives lined the walls. Harry could see the resemblance to his godfather, and it made his throat tighten again. He kept going however; once he saw his friends he would feel better. When he reached the door he heard commotion. He poked his head in, and then opened the door all the way.
“Get him!”
“He’s over there! NO THERE!”
“Damn! I almost had it!”
“Don’t hurt him Fred!”
Harry stared wide-eyed at the group now running all over the room. Fred, George and Ron were all chasing what appeared to be a little green bouncy ball. Ginny was standing in a corner, dancing on her toes, here eyes full of worry. As soon as Harry entered the room all the way, however, all the commotion stopped. All four Weasleys stared at him, catching their breath. Ginny was the first to react.
“Hiya, Harry!” Ginny said, walking over to give him a one-armed hug. Harry noticed that it was the first time she had ever hugged him. Strange, that he should notice such a thing. Ron grinned a wide, lopsided grin.
“Harry! We weren’t expecting you until later! Glad to see you mate!” he said, walking over to him.
“You look terrible! What happened to your arms?” remarked Fred and George. Harry laughed. It was good to see his friends.
“It’s along story, I’ll tell you later. Where’s Hermione?” Harry asked, walking over to sit on the bed. Ron followed him and sat down next to him.
“She won’t be here until later this evening. But I’m sure…” Ron broke off in the middle of his explanation as he stared at something in the middle of the floor. Harry followed his gaze. He saw what he had interpreted as a bouncy ball. It was, in fact, a toad. “Ginny insisted on having a toad for her birthday,” Ron muttered. “It hasn’t stopped bugging us since.”
“Hey, there is no need to insult Theodore. Especially since he is much less annoying than you are,” Ginny said, her eyebrows furrowed. Fred and George snickered.
“She’s got a point there, little brother,” said Fred. Harry grinned too. But just then the frog hopped into the air. Ginny leapt on it, agile as a cat, startling Harry. In minutes she had pinned it to the floor. George ran to get a box off of the bedside table. Ginny lifted the toad inside and quickly closed the lid. She was panting when she stood up.
“So,” Harry asked as Ginny pulled a chair out of the corner of the room and sat on it. “What have you all been doing to keep busy?” Ron shrugged.
“The same thing we did last year: trying to clean this place. But it’s a lot of work. So far the only thing we have managed to get clean is the kitchen,” said Ginny.
“Yeah, I never really realized that Kreacher was doing anything at all to help keep the house clean. It was a lot cleaner when he still worked here,” Fred said. The room got uncomfortably silent. Fred had skipped the part where Sirius had done most of the cleaning, and that it was harder without him too.
“What happened to Kreacher?” Harry asked, trying to keep things from going in the direction of talking about Sirius. That would lead to The Prophesy, which he still hadn’t mentioned to his friends. In fact, he hadn’t really thought of it that much. To put it simply, he just didn’t care anymore. Ever since the day he was born he had dealt with hardships. He was so used to it, that worrying about dying everyday was just part of the routine; Get up, eat breakfast, make sure that friends and family are still alive, dwell until nightfall, check that Voldemort isn’t hiding in your closet, and then sleep. That had been his routine every summer. And, he was sure, would be his routine until either he or Voldemort was dead. Which one didn’t matter, as long as it ended.
“Did you even hear me, Harry?” George asked. Harry jumped. He hadn’t even noticed that he was being talked to. He had completely zoned out.
“No, sorry. I was just thinking. What did you say?” Harry said apologetically. Ginny was staring at him, her eyes full of pity.
“That’s all right. I was saying that Kreacher was executed,” George said matter-of-factly.
“Good.” Harry said blankly.
“Harry…” Ron said, looking at him sadly. Ginny gave Ron a warning look, however, and Ron broke off. Harry was grateful. The room got very quite again, and they could hear voices down below.
“What’s going on? A meeting?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, but I expect it’s over by now or we wouldn’t be able to hear them,” Ron said. “They have insisted even more so than last year that we know nothing.”
“Not even the Extendible Ears work,” said George sadly.
“The only thing we have managed to scrape is something about a Prophesy. Anytime I have over heard something, it’s about some Prophesy,” Ginny said. Harry looked away uncomfortably. In the silence they heard somebody coming up the stairs. They all listened, waiting. Mrs. Weasley bustled in, smiling brightly when she saw Harry.
“Harry dear! How have you been?” Mrs. Weasley hugged him tightly. “My goodness, what are all these nicks on your arms?! And you’re so skinny! You need some dinner. Come downstairs, everybody can’t wait to see you.” Harry followed her downstairs with the rest of the group. When he entered the kitchen behind Mrs. Weasley, the room went deadly quite. Everybody looked him up and down. It seems they expected him to faint, or begin sobbing hysterically. Instead, Harry nodded in greeting. Then, out of the crowd of people, Remus Lupin pushed his way toward Harry.
“Welcome back, Harry. I trust you are well?” Lupin put a hand on his shoulder, trying to break the silence.
“Wotcher, Harry!” said a familiar female voice. “Now, is it necessary to gawk at him?! Lord, what idiots. Go back to your own business.” Nymphadora Tonks presented herself. She had short, blonde curly hair today, and her nose was dotted with freckles.
“Thanks,” Harry muttered. Tonks grinned.
“Well, best go and get something to eat before it’s all gone,” Tonks said, marching away and knocking into a chair as she went. Harry shook his head, grinning. He went to get a plate and fill it with food. Then found a seat at the table beside Ron. Harry looked around him, staring at all the faces that were both familiar and unfamiliar. There was Alastor Moody, sniffing a chunk of buttered bread before shoving the whole piece into his mouth. His bright blue eye swiveled around, looking through the back of his head and watching out for potential attackers. Next to him was a witch Harry didn’t recognize. Then Mrs. Weasely sat, smiling and laughing at a joke Kingsley Shacklebolt had just made. Then Arthur Weasely, Tonks, and Lupin were sitting close together, talking about something that was obviously very serious. Next to them was Mundungus Fletcher. Harry shook his head slightly as he watched Mundungus look around cautiously, then slip one of the silver spoons into his long coat. Next to him were two witches that appeared to be twins. They were blinking rapidly, looking around at everybody else. Next to them was Arabella Figg, talking loudly with a rather old looking man next to her. Most of the rest Harry didn’t recognize. He frowned. He knew that it was silly of him, but he had hoped to see Albus Dumbledore. Of course he wouldn’t be here though.
Harry felt comforted as he sat there; eating dinner with a large group of friends and people he knew he could trust. He sighed, he need to get out of this house. It reminded him of Sirius, the one person he was trying to forget. He shook his head, it was only a couple more weeks, then he would be riding the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts, where he would be distracted by homework, and Quidditch. He smiled to himself, and chose to think about Quidditch for the rest of dinner.
After Harry had eaten, he, Ron and Ginny went upstairs. Fred and George disappeared into their own room, whispering and writing out what looked like ingredients. That reminded Harry of the joke shop Fred and George were planning on opening.
“Does your mum know about Fred and George’s plans for a joke shop yet?” Harry asked. Ginny giggled.
“Not yet. They have been trying to get up the nerve for months now,” Ron said, smiling and shaking his head. Harry frowned. What would Mrs. Weasley think when she found out how Fred and George got enough gold to buy premises? Not wanting to cloud the rare feeling of contentment he was feeling right now, Harry pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Then they heard somebody running up the steps. A few moments later, Hermione burst through the door, a bright smile on her face.
“Ron! Harry! Ginny!” Hermione squealed, running to give each of them a hug. Ron blushed scarlet. “My goodness Harry, you don’t look so good.”
“So I’ve been told,” Harry said, rolling his eyes. Hermione laughed.
“Oh, it’s so wonderful to see you all! I’ve missed you!” Everybody laughed at her enthusiasm. She sat down on the bed. They all found seats and began talking. Ron and Ginny told Hermione about the mysterious Prophesy, much to Harry’s discomfort.
“Have any ideas?” Ron asked eagerly, thinking she might have read about it in a book or something. Hermione shook her head. They all talked about that for a long while. The whole time Harry said nothing, but just listened.
“Harry, are feeling all right?” Hermione asked him, noticing his silence. They all turned to stare at him. He closed his eyes for a minute, and put his face in his hands.
“There is something I think you should know. You are all my best friends, and if anybody deserves to know, it’s you guys.” Harry looked at each of them in turn. “I know what The Prophesy is.” They stared at him. He laughed a sad, hopeless laugh. “Dumbledore told me about it in his office right after…” Harry’s throat clogged up again, and he had to stop for a second. His friend’s gazes were intent on him, full of sadness. “It said that whoever was born at the end of July, and had parents that had defied Voldemort three times would be sort of…the chosen one.”
“You…” Ginny whispered.
“Well, that’s the funny part. It might not have been me at all. There is one other person who fits that description,” Harry said. Ron looked non-plussed, but Hermione gasped.
“Neville!” She said in shock. Everybody stared. Harry nodded. There were a few minutes silence, and then Harry continued.
“Well, The Prophesy mentioned one last, crucial characteristic. My scar. So, I don’t really want to go into detail, but Voldemort sort of…”chose” me, because he had only heard part of The Prophesy.”
“What do you have to do?” Ron asked nervously.
“Well,” Harry said, looking away from them. “It said that one of us will die by the hand of the other, for one can’t live while the other survives. So, in the end it’s either him or me,” he finished, giving a sort of manic laugh. He looked up at them. Ron was paler than he had ever seen him, his eyes wide. Both Hermione and Ginny had tears running down their faces. Hermione shook her head. “It’s not fair…it’s just not fair.”
Harry shrugged. “Since when has life ever been fair to me?”