Trip Down the Memory Lane by mate
Chapter Notes: It's my first story, so please read and review.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. It's all JKRowling's.
A man dressed in black robes could be seen sitting in a comfortable armchair with a newspaper in his hands and a cup of hot steaming coffee on the table next to him. By the look of his graying hair, he seemed to be in his early forties. The room he was sitting in had lots of personal possessions displayed there, giving it a friendly and homey feeling. The fireplace had been lit to keep the room warm as it was snowing heavily outside.
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"Honey, could you clean the basement out to make some room? Alice is bringing in her extra stuff to put in there," my wife inquired from the kitchen.
"Sure darling," I replied cheerfully over the newspaper I was reading.
Putting the Quibbler down, I went down to the basement. It was dark and I could only make out hazy outlines, so I lit up my wand. Light flooded into the room, illuminating a large amount of old stuff that we scarcely use anymore. I started sorting through the boxes, and getting things into some kind of order, but stopped at the sight of a large, thick book. I recognized it immediately as the old photo album, which I kept from my years at Hogwarts. I had put it away in hopes of forgetting the unhappy things recorded in it. After some consideration I wiped the dust off the cover and slowly opened the album.
The memories came back to me like they had happened yesterday. I looked through the first few pages of the album. I guess you can't forget your past just by putting the reminders away. All the pictures of my friends at Hogwarts were spread out in front of me.
There were pictures of Dean, Seamus, Parvati, Lavender, Padma, and the Creevey brothers. I turned the pages absentmindedly and stopped at one in particular. I stared at the photos. They were the most painful ones in the entire album.
In the first photo, three teenagers were standing in front of a castle. Their arms were around each other. On the left side was a black-haired man with brilliant green eyes and a huge grin on his face. Next to him was a girl with brown bushy hair, and she too was smiling widely. On the right was a man with flaming red hair, who was laughing happily with his head thrown back. Both boys were wearing scarlet Quidditch robes and the girl was in her Hogwarts robes.
I remember that photo, which had been taken right after a Quidditch match. Harry Potter, the teen with black hair, Ron Weasley, the redhead, and Hermione Granger, the bushy-haired girl, were all happy in the picture. The boys were on their way to the changing room, while Hermione was accompanying them. Colin Creevey had run up excitedly and stopped them for a photograph.
As the memories flashed through my mind, my eyes drifted to the next photo. It contained the same three people with an addition of a red haired girl. They were sitting in front of an old house. The girl, Ginny, was leaning against Harry, while Hermione had her arms around Ron. They were all laughing. The picture was taken at The Burrow, the day before Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s wedding.
Another photo on the same page caught my eyes. It included the same four people, who were no longer teenagers, as well as me and my wife. We all had cake all over our faces and clothes. A sad smile came to my face when I remembered the moment that the photo had been taken. Harry and I were celebrating our birthdays together. Ginny had thrown a piece of chocolate cake at Harry, hitting him squarely on the forehead. At first, Harry had looked shocked, but then retaliated by rubbing cake on Ginny's face. An enthusiastic food fight had followed afterwards, with all of us taking full part. At the end we were all covered in the cake.
My eyes burned as tears slid down my face. No one could have guessed the tragic fate the future had in store for them while looking at these photos. In these photos they were all still so carefree and young.
My mind was caught, and I began thinking about them. Harry, an orphan whose parents were killed by Voldemort himself, had survived the Killing Curse and was sent to live with his horrible Muggle relatives. He hadn’t known of the wizarding world until the age of eleven. He was a true Gryffindor, a Quidditch star, and a natural leader. So much weight had been placed on his shoulders by fate, but he was still such a kind hearted person.
Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, always helped me in potions, no matter the consequences from Snape, and was a little bossy. Ron was a great strategist, but he had a lot to live up to with five older brothers. He was brilliant at chess, but had only “the emotional range of a teaspoon”, according to Hermione. He proved her wrong when he gave his life for her.
Ginny, a short-tempered little red-haired girl, was Ron’s only sister. She was stubborn, but that's natural when you grow up with six older brothers. She was a loving soul, and absolutely full of life.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been known as the "Golden Trio" in their years at Hogwarts. They were always together and hardly ever found alone. They didn’t leave each others sides even in death. I always called them ‘The Adventurous Trio’. They were always in search of some mystery and taking it upon themselves to solve it, even though it was not their problem to begin with. They had more knowledge and understanding of the events going around than any other student, sometimes even more than the Professors. With Harry as a leader, they broke thousands upon thousands of rules. Even Hermione broke the rules, and she was always strict rule follower. I think Harry and Ron had some effect on her.
I remember my years at Hogwarts. I was not a very brave person, and was quite shocked when the sorting hat placed me in Gryffindor. But they gave me confidence. I learned a lot in Harry's DA classes; it saved my life in my fifth and sixth year, as well as many years after that. When I saw the face of Bellatrix Lestrange in The Daily Prophet, I was enraged and wanted to take revenge for what she did to my parents. I think that's why I accompanied them to Department of Mysteries in hope to confront Bellatrix. But she got away.
Things got worse during the end of my sixth year. Hogwarts was attacked by Death Eaters, brought by one of the students, named Draco Malfoy. The six of us, along with The Order of the Phoenix members fought them and in the end succeeded to drive them away. Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts and most powerful wizard of all time, was killed during that attack. I had never seen Harry more miserable in all six years of Hogwarts than at Dumbledore's funeral. He was sitting quietly with Ginny. He was not crying at all, but his eyes were telling the whole story. Dumbledore was more than just a headmaster to Harry, he was a mentor. I saw him laugh on two or three occasions but they were short lived, probably reliving some memory.
After the funeral he talked to Ginny, before he started walking away. Ginny was composed through out the conversation, but once Harry turned away she let out her tears.
I later found out that he broke up with her, because he thought it was too dangerous for them to be together during a war. Ron was holding a sobbing Hermione. I guess they gave in to the feelings they quite obviously had for each other. Harry looked angry throughout the entire conversation he was having with the Minister, and after he finished, Ron and Hermione joined him. They were talking in low voices, and I couldn't quite catch what they were saying, but it seemed very important. We went to start packing after sometime, packing for the journey later that day. The train ride home was a dismal affair. We all got off the train and I started looking for my grandmother. I found her talking to the Weasley family. After saying goodbye to my friends, I walked with my Gran through the barrier.
My thoughts on the way home were that life couldn't get any worse, but I was disastrously wrong.
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Thanks to my betas Gryffinpuff and Malika Potter for making this story possible.