Harry Potter and the Death Awakener

Chapter Twenty: Wishful Thinking

   Voldemort was back. Of course he was back when everything was going in the right direction for Harry. He had finally moved comfortably into Grimmauld Place, had finally gotten the job he wanted, had finally stopped looking over his shoulder and stopped worried about being attacked, had finally stopped being afraid. With the return of Voldemort, all of that fear had come rushing back in and made him impulsively take that job Dumbledore had offered him.

   Why did he ever think this was a good idea? What made him think he could pass as good teacher? Sure, he taught Dumbledore's Army a few defensive spells, but he didn't even have the slightest idea about what textbook he should assign.

Sitting at the table in the kitchen of the Burrow, Harry was starting to sweat looking at the numerous Defense Against the Dark Arts books Hermione had piled in front of Harry on the kitchen table in the Burrow. She pulled stacks upon stacks upon stacks of books out of that enchanted bag of hers. He glanced helplessly at Lupin. He only chuckled and pulled a few toward him.

   Ginny, who was sitting to his right, snorted and picked up a book. "What is this, Hermione? I didn't realize you read anything other than textbooks."

   Harry only got a fleeting glance of a scandalously dressed woman on the cover before Hermione snatched it away.

   "It's nothing!" She said with a blazing red face, as she hastily shoved the book back into charmed bag. "Let's get down to business shall we? In each stack is a set of books for each year. The first year books are on top, then the second year books, and so on and so forth."

"Blimey, Hermione, why can't we just use the books that were assigned by Remus when he taught? They are good books." Harry said

"I agree," said Lupin, not bothering to look up from a book on ghouls. "They are very informative and are still quite relavent."

"Well, we should at least skim all of them to make sure there aren't any better ones." Hermione was looking down her nose at all of them.

"Haven't you read all of them already?" Asked Harry. "Couldn't you just tell us if there is any better books?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Just read the books, Harry. It'll do you some good anyway." She picked up a textbook and deliberately put it in front of her face. That was clearly the end of the discussion. Harry groaned internally. He really didn't want to read a ton of textbooks, but at least it would distract him from the constant stream of worry and fear flowing through his head.

After about an hour of looking through books, Ron walked through the kitchen door and glanced at the books on the table, then Harry's miserable face, and then Ginny who was half asleep already. He started to turn back toward the door, but Hermione spotted him.

"Would you like to help, Ron?" She asked eagerly.

Ron looked at the books again an grimaced. "I love you, Hermione, so please don't take offense to this, but I'd rather de-gnome the garden than read a bunch of school books."

Hermione huffed in annoyance, but it was half hearted. She was clearly glowing with happiness from what Ron said before the part that was supposed to offend her. She said, "Go along, then." Harry watched as Ron did his best not to sprint out of the door.

Finally, after hours of skimming through books on theory, defense, and different creatures, they all agreed that the standard texts that Lupin had assigned were the best. Defense Against the Dark Arts by Galatea Merrythought and Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard would by assigned to any students in the fifth year and below. The N.E.W.T students would by assigned Advanced Defense Against the Darks by Galatea Merrythought and Confronting the Faceless. Along with these books, the students will also be assigned a book that corresponds with their year.

"Now that we've got that done, you need to write a letter to McGonagall so she knows what to put in the letters that are sent out to the students."

Harry quickly drafted up a letter to McGonagall. Once he finished, he signed his name and turned Ginny. There were red marks lining her right from when she fell asleep after looking through her fifteenth book. "Do you think Percy will let me use his owl?"

"I don't know," she yawned, "you know how he is with Hermes. Or any of his stuff really."

"You still haven't gotten a new owl?" Hermione asked.

He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye as he said, "No. I can't really explain it, but Hedwig meant a lot to me. She was my first friend, besides Hagrid. Every time I even think about purchasing a new one, I feel as if I am betraying her."

   "Oh, Harry." Hermione breathed.

   He felt Ginny's hand snake into his own as he continued. "With everyone coming back, I keep hoping that she will too. I know it's stupid, wishful thinking because we don't even know where she landed when she died. How could this 'Death Awakener' know where she's at?Plus, I'm sure she was picked apart by other animals anyway." He knew that last part was gruesome, but he knew it was true in his heart. He couldn't help but say it as he rambled on.

   "You don't have to get one if you aren't ready," said Hermione.

   "No, you're right," he said, finally looking at them. "Besides, I'll need one now that I'm going to be Professor. I might have to write to a student's parents. I'm sure I'd scare the wits out of a muggle family if I sent a glowing, blue stag with my message."

   He looked back at Ginny. "Would you go with me to pick one out tomorrow? I don't think I can go alone."

   "Of course," she said. She got up and took the letter from him. "I'll mail this for you. Percy won't even notice Hermes is gone." She kissed his cheek and left the room.

   ——————————————————————
   The next day, Harry and Ginny headed to the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Allley.

It took over an hour for him to choose an owl. Once he got over his guilt of Hedwig's death, he chose a golden barn owl.

"What are you going to name him?" Ginny asked.

"I think," Harry said as the owl watched him with black eyes, "I think I'll name him Zephyr."

The owl hooted in response, as if he like the name. Harry gave him a small smile and said "Welcome to the family, Zephyr."

Hi there! I'm sorry about this chapter pretty much being a filler chapter, but I wanted to show Harry entering adulthood in a similar way that J.K. showed him leaving childhood. Thanks for reading!