Harry and Amelia Potter

5.14

"It appears there's a connection... between the Dark Lord's mind and both of yours. Whether he is, as yet, aware of this connection is, for the moment, unclear. Pray he remains ignorant." Snape tells us as we sit in his office.

"You mean, if he knows about it, then... he'll be able to read our minds?" Harry asks. I look to it.

"Read it, control it... unhinge it." I tell him and Snape nods.

"In the past, it was often the Dark Lord's pleasure... to invade the minds of his victims... creating visions designed to torture them into madness. Only after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony... only when he had them literally begging for death, would he finally... kill them."

"Used properly, the power of Occlumency will help shield us from access or influence." I say then look to Snape. "Is that what we're doing here? You're going to help us break this connection?"

"The connection can not be broken, Miss Potter. But stopped." He says. "In these lessons, I will attempt to penetrate your minds. You will attempt to resist." He states and then raises his wand. "Prepare yourself. Legilimens."

My mind wanders to the dark corridor, then to first riding a broom, then to the night in the graveyard.

"No!" I scream and pull myself pack to Snapes office. I sit in the chair, panting, until Harry looks at me and places his hand on mine.

"Your okay, Mia. You're back. You're safe."

"Miss Potter, do you know how long it too for you to block me from your mind?" Snape asks.

"No." I state, regaining control of my breath.

"12 minutes. Too long if I was the Dark Lord. He could've figured out all of your secrets by then. You must practice." Then he turns to Harry. "You're turn."

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"Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas. Here we go. Daddy's back." Mrs. Weasley says as we all gather around the table for Christmas dinner and gift exchange at Grimmald Place. "Sit down, everybody, sit down. That's it. Now, presents." She pulls out a few gifts and starts handing them out. "And a nice big box for Ron. Big box for you. And... Fred and George." Everyone has a present in their hands. "Come on, open up. I want to see your faces."

I open the gift and it's another sweater. Only this one is a greenish blue color, with a cream colored A on the front.

"Yes. Try it on." Mrs. Weasley tells me and I do as I'm told. I don't mind receiving homemade sweaters for christmas. Ron and the rest of the Weasleys might have grown tired of them, but I won't. It shows that someone cared enough to make me something. Something from their heart, and it makes me happy. I beam a smile at her.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. It's perfect." I say. She smiles at me and I give her a hug.

"Just what you wanted, actually." She tells me and looks at everyone else to see their faces as they open her gifts.

"Lovely to have you with us." Mr. Weasley says to Harry and I.

"Thank you." We say.

"I'm just happy you're able to be here, too." I say, putting my hand on his. He smiles gratuitously at me.

"A Christmas toast." He says, raising his glass. "To Mia and Harry Potter... without whom I would not be here. To Mia and Harry."

"Mia and Harry." Everyone cheers.

We finish dinner and start to head up to our room. Hermione and Ron begin bickering, of course.

"I can't understand why you don't want to wear it, Ronald."

"I look like a bloody idiot, that's why."

"No more than usual, Ron. I don't know why..." she trails off as the house elf walks by.

"Nasty brat, standing there as bold as brass. Harry and Mia Potter, the twins who stopped the Dark Lord. Friend of Mudbloods and blood-traitors alike. If my poor mistress only knew..."

"Kreacher!" Sirius yells. "That's enough of your bile. Away with you!"

"Of course, master. Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black." He says and slowly walks away.

"Sorry about that. He never was very pleasant, even when I was a boy. Not to me, anyway." Sirius says and Harry and I begin following him down the stairs.

"What, you grew up here?" I ask him.

"This is my parents' house. I offered it to Dumbledore as headquarters for the Order. About the only useful thing I've been able to do." He says. Then we happen upon a room with a family tree on the wall. "This is the Black family tree. My deranged cousin. I hated the lot of them. My parents with their pure-blood mania." He points to his spot on the tree and it's burned off. "My mother did that after I ran away. Charming woman. I was 16."

"Where did you go?" Harry asks.

"Round your dad's. I was always welcome at the Potters'." He tells us with a smile. And he begins gazing upon us. "I see him so much in you, Harry. You too, Amelia. You are so very much alike."

"I'm not so sure." Harry mutters. "Sirius, when I was... When we saw Mr. Weasley attacked, we weren't just watching. We were the snake." My brother tells him. "And afterwards, in Dumbledore's office... there was a moment when we wanted to..." He trails off.

"This connection between us and Voldemort. What if the reason for it is that we're becoming more like him?" I ask. "We just feel so angry all the time. And what if, after everything that I've been through... we've been through..." I add and look to Harry. "Something's gone wrong inside us? What if we're becoming bad?"

"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Mia, Harry." He says, placing a hand on each of our shoulders. "You're not bad people. You're very good people who bad things have happened to. You understand?" He asks and we nod. "Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."

We continue to gaze upon the Black family tree. I see Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange. And Tonks parents too, but they've been burned out as well.

"When all this is over, we'll be a proper family. You'll see." He smiles at us. We nod hopefully.