Revelation and Resolve

What did that mean? Don't panic. A godfather? Harry had never come across the term... No. He had, in the back numbers of the Prophet. A few times he'd seen notices of a godfather or a godmother.

Don't freeze. Keep asking questions. Keep them talking. What did that mean...

"And what does a godfather do in the wizarding world?" Harry finally asked.

"Just what you might imagine. Take care of children when their parents are unable..."

Well, Harry was now capable of doing that on his own.

"So he's my guardian now?"

"Well, that may come to pass. He's currently in the hospital. The prison these English have is no kind or gentle place. He'll need much care before he's more than a shadow of a person. It was my duty to tell this to you."

Harry nodded. He tried to piece together what he'd been told and what he hadn't. "And why did finding Ron's rat free my godfather?"

"Ah, yes. All the crimes laid at Sirius Black's feet were actually committed by this Mr. Pettigrew."

All of them? "And Mr. Black, you said, was in prison a decade and no one knew this?"

The Headmaster looked unhappy. "Yes, you are right to be skeptical. It seems impossible. It likely is impossible. But governments change and records are lost or destroyed. Yes, it was likely an intentional act."

"Who did it?"

"That may never be known – or why."

"But..."

"Black comes from a dangerous family, perhaps it was considered a way to defang them by misplacing the heir in a hellish prison. He has come into money, a considerable amount, since his imprisonment. This may have been an attempt to keep him from inheriting the Black fortune. Or an attempt to punish him for fighting against Voldemort or, alternately, for abandoning his family. It may also have been an effort to keep him from being your godfather. Or to further attack the Potter family by attacking one named as a godfather to a Potter. Or any combination of these..."

"Oh," Harry said. Maybe he needed to take those secret politics classes Malfoy had blabbed about that one day.

"Yes. It's confusing for all of us."

"Can I meet him?" Harry asked.

"He has asked to meet you. Perhaps you might sneak out – again, as you did many times over the summer – this weekend and make your way to St. Mungo's. That's the hospital they plunked into one of the busiest spots in London. Not a lick of sense in any of these people."

"You don't mind me sneaking out?"

"I mind people who follow stupid rules without question. I mind people who learn exactly as much information as will be on the examination, but not one item more. I mind people who are incurious. I do not mind rule-breakers who practice some subtlety, Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled. He would visit Sirius Black as soon as he could. Harry waited for his dismissal which was not yet forthcoming. The two professors looked at each other and seemed able to communicate without speaking. Interesting.

"One last thing, I understand you found a diary last summer."

At Ron's house. "Yes, sir."

"Well, I have some news about that..."

"You, sir?" If there was news, wouldn't it come from Mr. Weasley?

"Who do you think helped these English set up their Department of Mysteries? I remain on the rolls of Honored Masters. I still collect the gossip."

Harry nodded.

"The diary was enchanted."

"Yes, sir. Mr. Weasley said so."

"Good. So you paid attention to Madam Spurl's lectures this year?"

"Of course. She's the best teacher we've had."

"Well, she's not really a teacher and we've had some complaints... But, between you and me, she is the best living curse breaker we know. Not many of them live to one hundred, let alone one hundred seventy-five. Anyway, that diary led my former colleagues to begin tracking a number of other enchantments – and also to confirm a few suspicions. You-Know-Who, a ridiculous appellation, is not yet dead though the appropriate authorities now know why. But he is in spirit form, though we have reason to doubt he can be dispelled at this point."

Harry shrugged. It was interesting and overwhelming. "Why tell me?"

"He is fixated on you, Mr. Potter. He is confirmed to have possessed Professor Quirrel when he attacked you."

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Harry knew this. He'd heard some of this before. He'd just not had anyone tell him to his face. "Yes, sir."

"You deal with surprise well, Mr. Potter."

"I am trying to train myself, sir."

"Very sensible," Perenelle Flamel said. "Fear can be quite noxious when it runs and runs. You're doing well."

Harry looked from her to her husband. He was ready to hear more. He nodded.

"This spirit will eventually manage to regain a body. Perhaps not this year or this decade. But I give you this warning so you will be ready. He is plotting at all times, trying everything he can. He will not give you an advantage if he can help it. He will trick you, trap you, and try to destroy you."

Professor Flamel did not believe in gentle illusions.

Harry found he appreciated this. He had fought Voldemort several times. He might fight him several more. He would try to be ready. But it was reassuring to have a few people who were willing to help him, like Mr. Weasley, like these Professors. Maybe even Sirius Black?

"The experts in the Ministry are continuing their hunt for these...enchantments. There's no way to know how long the hunt will take. But so long as you are ready..."

"I will start." Or continue. He was much better with his spells, the Sunfire and the Fulmenifer and that cutter Diviso.

"I expect I shall return here with Perenelle next year. I managed to bog the Ministry down in pettiness, with a dozen vying to become the next Headmaster. All of them are expending favors and paying out bribes they cannot afford, perhaps it shall ruin a few of those monsters. In any event, I do not expect to remain past next year, Mr. Potter. You may well need to find a more secure place for your summers."

"Yes, sir."

Perenelle Flamel beamed at Harry. "See, he is growing. He didn't volunteer one bit of information, Nick. You're getting clever, Mr. Potter. Congratulations – and don't stop growing."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"A charmer. What a charmer! Perhaps the girls won't eat this one alive. Some families know well how to do that. Those Prewitts who died out. Be ready, Mr. Potter. This spirit isn't the only dangerous thing coming for you – and some of the girls will even look quite beautiful as they eat your heart."

Really?

"Don't listen to her, well, not too much. She likes scaring the young, especially the young men. Vicious creature, don't know why I kept her for coming on seven hundred years. One of these days, I'll have to put you aside."

"Maybe I shall lay your decrepit self aside, Nicky. Find me a young one, make me feel youthful again."

The Headmaster roared with laughter. "You weren't youthful when I took you to wife. Old crone from the moment of birth, I swear it."

"Do you?" she asked, sounding as dangerous as that basilisk skull looked.

Harry glanced eagerly at the door for so many reasons.

.....

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