Fully illustrated! After his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry woke to a disturbing reality. The wizarding world only saw him as an expendable pawn, his carefree attitude towards studying left him struggling to survive, and he had never tru...
The walk back to their dormitories was quiet, with Hermione sending concerned glances at him every few seconds. Half way through, Harry turned to her, unable to keep it in any longer.
"Why?" He asked, not knowing who he was really speaking to. "Why didn't they just leave? Sure, the spell is powerful! Sure, the mighty Dumbledore cast it! Sure, they trusted their friends! But that was never going to be enough to protect them!"
He was so angry, so bitter, so miserable at the thought that his parents might have lived had they not taken the Fidelius as their only option. There must have been other options.
"If it was you and me, Hermione, what would you do? If Voldemort was after me and we had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I-I would run, Harry. And take you with me. Somewhere they could never find you, even if it meant we had to keep running forever. And the whole time, I would be searching for a way to fight back."
"You don't know how many times I've thanked my lucky stars you're my ally, not an enemy." He attempted to smile, but it came out twisted. "My parents had allies too—just chose to trust the worst of them. It's funny. I've had years to get used to the fact that they'll never be in my life, but sometimes, knowing what could have been if only things had gone a little differently... hurts so bloody much."
"Is that why you were so obsessed with this spell?"
"I want to learn more about my parents' lives. The stuff they loved, what made them happy, what made them sad. Even the spell that might have ended their lives. I just want to understand. There's so much I don't know about them. Hell, I didn't even know what my mum's favorite subject was until Flitwick mentioned it!"
"About that, Harry..." Hermione looked thoughtful. "I've been looking up on inheritance laws and Gringotts for Sirius, and the conversation with Flitwick had me wondering about you too. It's bad enough you know barely anything about your parents, but you don't have many possessions from them either, do you?"
"I have my cloak and the map—"
"Both of which were never officially given to you by their will! Dumbledore gave you that cloak for Christmas and that map was found entirely by chance. What about what your parents left behind for you? Books that your mother might have read? Your father's favorite broom? It could be anything really, and not necessarily of monetary value. There should be a Potter Family Vault besides the trust fund you already have access to. Having some of their things might help you feel closer to them. That's not even mentioning that they might have left a personal letter behind for you with their will and—oh!— the Potter Manor—"
"Manor? I thought their home in Godric's Hollow was destroyed?"
"That was just a place your parents used as a hiding spot. Your father came from a respected and rather rich family, not unlike the Blacks. They had to have owned their own estate."
It was too much information to handle at once. His parents' possessions, their last words to him, their home—he wanted it all. He wanted to know.
"Why did no one ever mention this to me?" He closed his eyes, tired.
When he had first been introduced to this world, he was so happy to escape life with the Dursleys he had accepted everything at face value and never delved in deeper. But he had been a child and knew very little. Why had no one sat him down and explained things clearly? If he was going to be paraded as British Wizarding society's symbol of victory, wasn't he owed that much?
Hermione let out a growl of frustration, "I don't know and that's what keeps bothering me! What benefit was there to keep you so ignorant of it all? It's not right, no matter how I look at it!"
Her face grew redder as she spoke and when she ended her sentence with a stamp of her foot, Harry let out a chuckle. Strangely enough, seeing Hermione get angry on his behalf helped calm down his turbulent emotions.
He took a deep breath. "I'm glad you brought this to my attention, but I don't want to stress you over this when you already have so much on your plate. We can focus on it later, once we're done with the Sirius issue and the Second Task."
Hermione looked a little surprised. "Well, that's very... pragmatic of you."
"My best friend is Hermione Granger." Harry deadpanned. "Her no-nonsense disease had to spread to me eventually."
"Very funny, Harry!"
He snickered. "Besides, I can get closer to my parents in other ways in the meantime. Didn't Flitwick mention my mum being great at potions? Can you imagine Snape's face if I suddenly become the top of his class?"
It was a joke but Hermione seemed to be seriously contemplating it which just made him laugh harder
"It's possible, Harry! With a bit of work—"
Hermione prodded at him, Harry laughed, and they both bickered good-naturedly as they passed through the hallways. Harry returned to his dorms feeling much lighter than he had when leaving Flitwick's classroom.
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