Secrets To Keep

HPSC 11- Albus Dumbledore

That morning, after Harry woke Ron up, they went down for breakfast. "This is great, Molly!" Hermione said of her homeade pancakes and bacon.

Eventually Harry stood, saying, "I'm going to go Floo Minerva over here. Andy and Nev should be coming over soon. I'll be back in a bit."

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"Minerva?"

She jumped again. "I should really put some kind of alarm on thatt thing..." she muttered to herself before telling Harry, "Time to go, then?"

"Yes Ma'am. By the way, I'd like your opinion on some lesson plans, d'you think we could have our brunch tomorrow?" He asked.

"Of course. We're not going to stop because of school!"

Harry smiled. "Great!"

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They all heard a WHOOSH and then the sound of laughter. "--lly, Minerva, I'm being completely serious!"
More laughter.

"Well, hello, you two. You're awful happy today." Andy told tgem, she too smiling.

"Hey Andy. Hi Teddy!" Harry cooed.

"Hi, Minerva, is the school ready for September 1st? It's only two months away after all." Andy asked. (Fyi, right now it's around July 10th or so in this.)

"Well, I'm sure we will. I've been meaning to ask you all, how manyof you are returning to Hogwarts this year?" Minerva asked them all. .

Hermione's head snapped up from her book. "I am! What about you Ron, Ginny?"

Ron looked away from her hopeful face. "I dunno. I've been deciding what my job's gonna be. I don't really know."

"I know I'll come back. There wasn't any Quidditch last year, so no Scouts, but hopefully this year there will be." Ginny said.

George motioned Ron over, whispered something, Ron grinned, nodded, and went to get a glass of juice.

Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, let's continue, shall we? This time it's about a book."

"The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore." Hermione said.

Minerva frowned. "You didn't believe that rubbish, did you?"

Harry fidgeted. "Yeah, I don't know why...I just-"

Ron shook hus head and grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, the horcrux, ut messes with you. Clouds your judgement. And anyway, you had tw-"

"Ron!" Hermione hissed, slapping her hand over hus mouth.

"Ohmmm. Solary" Ron muttered. (Ohh. Sorry."

Harry continued. "Yeah, anyway. Hermione and I-- I don't know if you'd call it a fight --"

"No," Hermione said immediately. "We didn't fight. We had a disagreement, neither of us was feeling . . . okay. Tempers were running, and you needed reassurance about, Dumbledore. That's all."

Harry nodded. "This...this is when the story starts getting worse, scarier. You guys should know. And -- just remeember we're still here, we're okay. Scarred, but okay."

"Yeah, scarred, but okay." Ron and Hermione whispered.

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"When I took over the watch that night," Hermione told the anxious listeners, "it was snowing."

"While I slept, I had confusing and -- disturbing to say the least -- dreams." Harry said.

Luna kissed his cheek.

Harry smiled despite himself.

"Harry eventaully woke, and he came out to sit with me. We agreed to move somewhere else, because we kept hearing people and thought we saw someone."

"Oh no." Fleur worried, wrapped in Bill's arms.

Ron groaned. "That was me." He told Hermione quietly.

"So, we Apparated to the Forest of Dean. Mum and...and Dad took me there once, for camping." Her voice trailed off sadly.

They looked at her sadly.

Harry continued again. "I made Hermione go to bed, and kept watch. I eventually saw a Patronus. It was a doe--"

"Harry, were you imagining things?" Percy asked.

"No. I saw a doe. I felt I was supposed to follow her, so I dismissed my urge to call for Hermione, and followed."

"I wish you had." Hermione sighed. "But I understand."

Harry smiled at her gratefully. "It led me to this frozen pool. Inside...was the Sword of Gryffindor."

"How did it get there? It was in Snape's office, we stole it, and they took it to Gringotts." Neville asked.

Harry shook his head. "You'll see later. Basically, I--"

"Stripped." Ron interrupted. "Not a good example, Harry. I'm disappointed."

"Oh shut it, Won-Won."

Ron glared at Harry when Neville and Ginny burst out laughing while Luna hid it in Harry's shirt.

"So yes, I did...strip, then jumped in." Harry told them carefully.

Everyone face palmed at once. "What. The. Hell." Neville groaned. "Mate!"

Harry shrugged guiltily. "Sorry. Anyway, I had the sword, when the horcrux started choking me."

"You didn't take it off!?" Charlie exclaimed incredulously.

Harry muttered, "I ... didn't think -- "

"That much is obvious." Minerva smirked.

Harry, Ron, and her looked at one another before chuckling. "Inside joke." Ron told them.

"So, as I was choking to death, I was pulled out, and the horcrux was taken off my neck."

"Oh, thank God Hermione!" Ginny gasped.

Hermione shook her head. "Wasn't me."

"I was too weak to see who had saved me until I heard, "Are -- you -- mental?" I was so shocked, my head snapped up, ut was Ron. "Whay the hell," he panted at me. He lectured me a bit, we destroyed the horcrux, but eventually we headed to the tent, and told Mione. Your turn big sis." Harry grinned.

"Sure thing little bro." She smirked. "So when I saw them, I had a near heart attack, because I thought Harry had been hurt. He'd just yelled for me, and then I...well, I started smacking him with my bag..."

"HAHAHAHAHSH HERMIONE YOU-- HAHAAHhaahaha." George laughed at the blushing girl.

"Anyway, Hermione yelled at him, refused to talk to him for a few days, then we made up." Harry finished. "I think we should stop there, for now.