The Lewis House 41 страница

There was a short silence, and then: "Come in," Remus said.

Harry threw the door open and held the book up, pinning Ginny with his eyes. She glanced up at him from her position against her pillows, and at the sight of the book she seemed to grow paler.

"Are you a Healer?" he demanded.

She jumped. "How much of that did you read?"

He ignored her question and advanced on her; Remus quickly excused himself and slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. "Have you been... trying stuff on me?" Harry demanded. "Without saying anything?"

"Don't yell at me," Ginny retorted, recoiling against the headboard. "You don't know what it's like."

"Try telling me," Harry shot back. "Try being honest."

"I never lied! I said it was for class."

"You said you felt fine."

"Oh, you're one to talk. I said I was fine, and I thought I was!" Ginny swiped at her eyes and pushed back her hair until it was a tangled mess on the pillow.

"Mental and physical damage, this book says. You passed out on me, and I had no idea what was going on - and I couldn't wake you up."

"I said I was sorry. I didn't know that would happen."

"You're not even supposed to try it on people. What did you think was going to happen?"

"Well how am I supposed to help it when you come home every day looking like death, and I can feel all of it?" she burst out in a passion, punching her bedcovers. "I don't know how to control it, Harry, I wasn't doing it on purpose, and I can't stand being near you and not being able to -"

"You were touching me just like the instructions said to do!" Harry shook the book. "How could that not be on purpose?" He flipped the book open to the page he hated most, and stalked to her bedside.

"Don't -" she warned, holding up a hand and wincing.

"Don't worry." Harry placed the book in her lap and pointed to the sentence that had been crushing his spirit ever since he'd read it. "I'm not staying." He went for the door.

"Harry, wait - please, please wait."

Harry stopped short and looked back at her. Her head was bent, reading, and her hair shone in the lamplight. Her finger slowly traced the lines he'd pointed out, and she shook her head. "Oh no," she breathed, looking up at him.

"No? Your -" Harry felt strangled. "Your feelings aren't because you're a Healer?"

"No - yes - I don't know exactly how..." Ginny gestured uselessly with her hands. "I'm not sure where my feelings stop and start. I haven't worked it all out. But Harry, you don't understand -"

"When you touched me earlier - you were practicing, right?" Harry managed, his hands in fists. "And that night I first came home from Azkaban - that kiss. That was Empathy."

Some of the color came back into Ginny's face. "Yes, but not -"

"Then I understand," Harry interrupted, sick at heart. He walked out without another word.

~*~

Sirius tried not to panic when he heard the announcer on the WWN say that it was nine o'clock. He'd been getting up at five almost every morning since summer, but today he'd had to wait until sunrise for Remus to transform. Despite the full moon, he'd slept amazingly well as Padfoot; Remus still hadn't consented to let him sleep in the shed, so he had kept watch outside the door.

Now Remus was upstairs having a bath and Sirius was making what was, for him, a late breakfast. He was starving, and, in addition to toast and tea and coffee, was also frying sausage and tomatoes, and simmering a pot of baked beans.

As breakfast cooked, Sirius mentally went through his list of tasks for the day. He planned to stop by his office at the Ministry and pick up some files before heading to Culparrat. The new prison had been divided into two sections – one for those who had been tried and found guilty, and one for those who were still awaiting trial. At the moment, all of the inhabitants were Stunned and being watched over by Aurors and other special guards assigned by the M.L.E.S. It was so quiet there. He wasn’t sure which was more disturbing; the constant noise and babbling that had filled the air when Azkaban had been in operation, or the overwhelming silence that seemed to echo off the walls in Culparrat. They had to find a way of keeping the prisoners inside while awake - without using Dementors as guards. The sophisticated wards that currently surrounded the fortress were strong, but not new, and it was possible to break them from inside or out with only slight intelligence of the facility. He decided he’d better pester Arthur about finding more people to help Penelope with that Imprisonment Charm.

Crookshanks purred loudly and rubbed against Sirius’s leg. “Sorry,” he said, reaching down to stroke the cat’s fluffy coat. “You’re hungry, I suppose.” With a sharp whine, Crookshanks followed Sirius to his food bowl.

“I’ll do that.” Ginny had just opened the back door. She was carrying the pile of blankets and pillows from the shed. She looked a bit tired – her eyes were puffy and her hair was pulled into a not-so-neat knot at the back of her head. “Did you sleep well?”

“Wonderfully,” Sirius answered, stretching a little, and then reaching to the shelf for the cat food. “Not that it did me much good. What about you? You look like you didn’t get much yourself. You weren’t up worrying, I hope?”

“I’m okay,” she answered, shaking her head when he held out a piece of toast to her. “I’m just going to go and wash these – are you making breakfast?”

Sirius looked at her questioningly. The smell of sausage and the toast in his hand made it rather obvious that was what he was doing. Ginny sighed. “I was supposed to do that,” she mumbled, trying to get a better grip on all of the pillows and blankets in her arms.

“It’s all right, Ginny.” Remus entered the kitchen and sat down on a stool. His hair was still wet. “I’m sure whatever Sirius has fried up is edible.”

“Okay,” said Ginny. Sirius thought that she looked a bit red in the face as she walked past both of them, tripping a bit on one of the blankets that dragged along the floor. Remus gave her a reassuring smile and she looked relieved, but stopped in the doorway. “Sirius, do you need anything from the village? I’m going shopping for a few things in a bit.”

Sirius shook his head. “No thanks.” He watched as Ginny stumbled out of the room and up the stairs.

“What’s going on?” asked Sirius, motioning towards Ginny with a spatula.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why are you letting her run around doing all this housework when she looks so tired? Her mother will kill us if we don’t take care of her properly. She’s not our house-elf. She looks terrible.”

“You can talk.”

Sirius grinned. “So can you. You sprouted a few more grey hairs last night, Moony.”

Remus sighed. “It’s part of her detention. And it’s lucky for her that I didn’t send an owl home. I will next time.”

“Her what?” Sirius was surprised. Ever since Ginny had made that first batch of Wolfsbane Potion, he’d found it difficult to find fault with anything that she did. “What has she done that warrants a detention?”

“She got a bit too involved in her homework.”

"And you're punishing her?" Sirius chortled. "If you'd been my professor, I never would have had detention."

"This is different."

Sirius handed a cup of tea to Remus, who took a sip, grimaced, and reached for the sugar bowl. “You aren’t going to give me more of an explanation?”

“It’s simple,” said Remus, reaching up to yank a hair out of his head, and then scrutinizing it. “This one’s still brown. Anyway – ” Remus tossed the hair aside “ – I told her at the beginning of September that she shouldn’t rush her training as a Healer. I told her that she shouldn’t – couldn’t – work with people yet, and that it would make her sick if she tried.”

“So, she tried? On who?”

“Who do you think?”

Sirius dropped the frying pan onto the top of the cooker with a thump. Remus winced and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if to ward off a headache.

“Sorry,” Sirius mumbled. “She tried to heal Harry? Is he ill? What’s wrong with him?” Realizing that he was whispering for no good reason, he cleared his throat and, trying to sound nonchalant, asked, “Did it work?”

Remus was now staring at him as if he were the biggest idiot on the planet. He spoke very deliberately. “Harry has been spending his time flying around Azkaban on a dragon. He spends ten hours a day within fifty feet of the Dementors. No, he’s not exactly in the best of health, at least not mentally. Haven’t you noticed how amazingly cheerful he’s seemed since starting that job? Didn’t it seem strange to you?”

Closing his eyes, Sirius said, “I thought he was just happy. I thought that he and Ginny were, well, good and he’s been acting just like James did –”

And that was the truth. He hadn’t given it much thought. He’d been relieved the past few weeks that Harry had seemed so relaxed and easy-going. In a way, it had been as if Prongs had rejoined them. Sirius knew that Harry was his own person – that there were very great differences between father and son – but it had been so comforting to come home in the evenings, see Harry sitting in the study with Ginny. It made Sirius feel as if everything was returning to the normalcy that he had known when Prongs was alive.

“Ginny,” Remus continued, “has been deliberately absorbing all of Harry’s negative energies. It’s not healthy for either of them. Controlling these sorts of powers can take years to refine.”

“Does Harry know that’s what’s been going on?”

“He knows now. Haven’t you noticed that he hasn’t been here since Saturday? Although – ” Remus stopped, and seemed to be choosing his words very carefully. Sirius knew what was coming, no matter how Remus might try to word it “ – it’s not like you’ve been around here much yourself lately.”

Sirius deliberately plunked two pieces of toast onto a plate, and then dumped some beans on top. Remus hated it when his food touched. “Moony – I thought we’d agreed not to get into that.”

“Right,” said Remus briskly. “So, what are you going to do today then?”

“Well…” Sirius tried to remember what he’d been planning earlier, and found that he’d drawn a blank. He was worried about Harry. He thought about going to Azkaban – he hadn’t been out there since before they’d started riding the dragons – he hadn’t had time, and the Dementors had more of an effect on him than he cared to admit. Besides, he’d promised Remus that he would stay away.

“I’ll be spending most of the day at Culparrat,” he said, with false brightness. “Ron marked up a bunch of files yesterday afternoon and I’ve got to sort through them today. There’s a trial tomorrow.”

“Ron’s been keeping busy, helping you with all of this research.”

“He has,” said Sirius, toasting two more pieces of bread with a violent shake of his wand that singed the edges of the toast. Remus probably hadn’t meant to start a fight – after all, he’d just transformed a few hours earlier.

“When are you going to start paying him?”

“Dunno,” answered Sirius. There had been many nights in the past few weeks when Sirius had been disappointed to see Ron go off to the pub, especially when they had been close to finding new information on a case. But he didn’t know if he was allowed to hire help. “I suppose I’ll stop by and see Arthur this morning then – find out what the Ministry can afford. Do you really think Ron will want to quit the pub?”

Remus laughed. “You won’t know unless you ask, will you?

*

By the time Sirius arrived at Azkaban, it was three o’clock and already starting to get dark. It was also raining, very hard, and he couldn’t see anything out the window of the PAP headquarters.

“Sirius!” Charlie Weasley entered from the back, holding a model of a Welsh Green in one hand. “I thought I heard someone up here.”

“What are you doing?” Sirius asked, thinking that Charlie was a bit too old to be playing with dolls.

“Come on back and have a look – Cho and I were just testing out some new flight patterns.” He led Sirius to the back room, where a pretty girl was watching two miniature dragons fly around a three-dimensional model of Azkaban.

“Sirius,” said Charlie, clearing his throat. “This is my assistant and fellow dragon-rider, Cho Chang. Cho, this is Sirius Black.”

Cho held out her hand and gave Sirius a sweet smile. She didn’t look as spooked as some people still did at the mention of his name. Then again, Sirius thought, he probably wasn’t as intimidating as a full-grown dragon.

“We were trying to see how difficult it would be for two riders to cover the area, and we’re testing a few new dives. Sometimes those Dementors try to trick us. It’s too bad that a good dose of fire isn’t enough to do them in.” Charlie jumped back just as one of the model dragons emitted a small jet of flame.

“Have you tried?” asked Sirius, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“'Course we've tried,” said Charlie. “The Dementors just glide through it. I think they like fire.” He rubbed at the spot on his elbow where the miniature dragon had attacked.

“Can we go outside and have a look at the real dragons?” Sirius checked his watch. He was eager to try to talk to Harry, although he wasn’t quite sure what he would say. ‘Sorry your girlfriend was using you as a lab rat,’ didn’t seem appropriate. James would have said something more diplomatic and understanding than that, although no amount of imagining could help Sirius figure out what that might be.

“If you want to go out in that,” said Charlie, gesturing with his thumb to the wind and rain outside. “But I’d rather wait until my shift starts. You can watch almost as well from in here.”

Sirius looked dubiously at the darkness outside the window.

Cho waved her wand, and the two dragons that had been flying around the Azkaban model froze and flew to her hand. With another flick, something shimmered over the model, and soon three miniature dragons were flying around the prison, a tiny rider on top of each of them.

“Not bad, eh?” asked Cho. “There’s Harry.” She pointed with her wand to a dragon that was flying low to the water. Sirius’s heart froze when he saw that it was pushing a Dementor back to the shore. He reminded himself that it wasn’t real – that it was just an image, but then again, it was real to Harry, who was flying around outside.

“Is that Malfoy?” Sirius asked, pointing to a resplendent scarlet dragon on the opposite side of the island. It seemed wrong to see a Malfoy flying on something that had the natural coloring of a Gryffindor. Charlie nodded. “It’s the strangest thing we’ve ever seen. I’d never, ever seen a tame Chinese Fireball before he showed up, and I wasn’t sure how the other dragons were going to take to it, especially Norbert. But Malfoy’s dragon is surprisingly docile, and all the other dragons seem to ignore him. We keep a close eye on him, but there haven't been any problems - for all his faults, Malfoy’s a good rider.” Charlie said the last few words manfully, though he looked like he'd just tasted something foul.

“Do you think the Death Eaters used that dragon in the war?” asked Sirius.

Charlie shrugged. “Probably, but there’s no proof, and that dragon’s been a pet in Malfoy’s family for two generations. It’s got papers.”

“Are the Dementors supposed to get that close?” Sirius asked, watching as Mick took a dive and directed one gracefully back into the rocks.

‘It just looks close,” reassured Cho. “It’s been consistently about fifty feet, so that’s about right on the model – ” Cho furrowed her brow in confusion. “But that Dementor does look like it’s getting fairly close to Norbert, doesn’t it? Charlie, look at this.”

All eyes turned to scrutinize the miniature replica of Azkaban. Harry was flying Norbert very close to the water. The wind and rain swirling around the fortress made it difficult to see clearly, magnified by the fact that as soon as they looked, Norbert emitted a huge plume of flame. The resulting smoke rose up over the water, mixing with the clouds and disintegrating into the dusk. Everything looked grey.

Except…

“What’s that?” asked Sirius, pointing to a small cloud of white that was hovering thinly in front of Harry.

“Looks like a Patronus,” said Charlie, already pulling on his jacket. “But why?”

He didn’t need to wait long to find out. Harry was about a half mile from Azkaban. A Dementor was directly in front of him. Norbert seemed to be struggling, and Harry seemed unwilling to fly higher until the Dementor turned back. But there was something else in the water. At first, Sirius had thought that it was just a pile of rocks, jutting out to sea. He knew from his own experience that the waters surrounding Azkaban contained several of these rock formations – they had been perfect places for Padfoot to stop and rest. But, as he peered closer, he realized with a dropping feeling in his stomach, that it was actually a group of Dementors – about a dozen in all – and they were gliding with alarming speed directly towards Harry and Norbert.

Charlie and Cho were already out the door, and Sirius rushed after them, his wand ready. The wind and rain rushed at his face, and he could barely see two feet in front of him. Cho and Charlie both had broomsticks in their hands, and they took off into the air immediately.

Hoping that there were some spares in the headquarters, Sirius concentrated as hard as he could. “Accio broomstick!” A Nimbus Seventy-Seven flew into his hands, and he leapt onto it. As the broomstick shivered and shook in the air, Sirius wished more than ever that he could locate his old motorbike. At least then he would have had some strong headlights.

Sirius flew blindly, unable to see either Harry or Norbert; the light at the end of his wand couldn’t cut through the overwhelming gray that densely surrounded him.

Then, from above, came a blinding jet of fire. Sirius swerved to avoid being burnt, and just in time to miss being hit by a large, scarlet tail. Assuming that Malfoy was headed in Harry’s direction, Sirius followed the dragon, making sure to stay well behind it, thankful for its bright colors. As they neared Azkaban, Sirius could make out several others on broomsticks, hovering in a semi-circle. In front of them was an opaque white light – the glow, he realized, of numerous Patronus charms being cast at one time.

Despite the distance between himself and the Dementors, Sirius could feel a sudden depression falling over him. Before he could stop it, a vision of an emerald green Dark Mark in the sky, of the smoking remains of a house, of James and Lily on the ground… came flooding into his mind. All that he could hear was the high-pitched sound of a baby crying – Harry.

“Give him to me, Hagrid, I’m his godfather, I’ll look after him.”

“Sorry, Sirius, I’m under strict orders from Dumbledore. Harry’s ter go ter his aunt an’ uncle’s – Lily’s family.”

The Chinese Fireball sped far ahead of Sirius, and took a dive. Sirius’s head cleared instantly, and he could finally see Norbert, noticing thankfully that Harry was still in control of the dragon, and was still trying to push Dementors back towards Azkaban’s shore. With the help of the Aurors, there was now considerable space between Harry and the Dementors, although they were still not retreating as fast as they should.

At first, Sirius thought that what he saw next was a trick of light. Malfoy’s scarlet dragon swooped down in between Norbert and the line of Dementors. Miraculously, neither Norbert nor the Fireball seemed to mind being that close to one another. Then, as calmly as if they were herding sheep into a pasture, Malfoy floated towards the Dementors, who suddenly started moving very quickly, and, in a matter of seconds, had all retreated into the cracks and crevices of the Azkaban fortress.

All that Sirius could do was sit back on the broomstick and float. He was wet to the bone, shivering from the cold, and completely exhausted. It was all too unpleasantly familiar: the jagged rocks, the stormy water, and the fortress looming in the distance. He was lucky, he realized, that he’d broken free from Azkaban in the summer.

He saw the Aurors retreating, and Charlie Weasley bobbing up and down in the air next to Norbert. Charlie and Harry seemed to be having an intense discussion, and after a moment, Charlie flew off, and Harry turned and directed Norbert back to shore. A burly reserve rider on a large Welsh Green took off in the distance as Harry brought Norbert down to land. Malfoy was still circling Azkaban lazily, though Sirius barely noticed him. It had been a long time since he had remembered Godric's Hollow so clearly. Holding back something that felt like a sob, Sirius flew back to the headquarters, more certain than ever that the only way to stop the Dementors was to slaughter them.

The headquarters were deserted, with the exception of Alastor Moody, who was pacing back and forth in the front room, his wooden leg thumping in no particular rhythm on the floor. Sirius threw the broomstick into a corner and shook out his hair. When that did nothing but send water flying onto his shoulders, he let out a grunt of frustration and transformed into Padfoot. He ran around the room several times, skidding to a halt in front of the fire and shaking his fur vigorously. Moody pulled his wand and pointed it at Sirius. “I thought I was one for theatrics,” he said, raising the eyebrow above his good eye. “You’re making the room smell like wet dog, Black.” He uttered a drying spell.

Sirius transformed. It had been unnecessary, but he had needed some way to let out his anger, and Padfoot had always been able to put distance between him and his old memories. “What the hell happened out there?” he spat at Moody, pointing at the door. “What was that?” When Charlie walked in a moment later, looking worried, Sirius repeated his question. “What was that?” He tried to keep his voice under control.

“I don’t know,” said Charlie, quietly. He looked quite shaken up. “It doesn’t make sense. We’re having Norbert checked out right now. Draco and Mick’s dragons didn’t seem to have any problems.”

“It figures,” muttered Sirius. “Where’s Harry? What did he say? Has he noticed anything unusual about Norbert lately? How is he?”

“I’m fine.” Harry stood in the doorway. He was dry – and the Firebolt that Sirius had given to him when he was thirteen was clutched in his hand.

Sirius rushed over to him. “Harry, what happ – ” But Harry cut him off. “Norbert probably just has a cold.” He turned to face Charlie. “The keepers are going to give him something in his food tonight. Do you think he’ll be okay to ride in the morning?”

“In the morning?” repeated Sirius. “In the morning? Harry, you're not getting on top of that dragon again.”

Harry didn’t seem to hear him. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be pointedly ignoring Sirius.

“Weasley,” said Moody, clearing his throat, “I'd say it's possible that the Ridgeback is less effective against Dementors than the Greens.”

“It’s possible,” came an answer from the doorway, but it wasn’t from Charlie. Mick O’Malley stood in the door, along with Draco Malfoy. Mick entered the room and clapped Harry on the back. “Sorry I missed the excitement, Harry. With the wind and the rain, I really couldn’t see what was going on over on your side. I should have suspected something – I didn’t see any Dementors for close to two hours.” He turned to Charlie, “We need to get that communication spell set up.”

Sirius took a step forward. “So you didn’t feel anything different about your dragon?” he asked Mick. Then he turned to Malfoy, who appeared to be somewhat amused by the whole situation. “What about you?" Sirius barked at him. "You certainly managed to ride in and save the day – there must have been a dozen Dementors out there.”

“There were thirteen,” said Moody gruffly. “And they were strong – I know that the Aurors have been out of practice since the dragons arrived on the scene, but it took quite a few Patronus charms to set them back. It was almost as if they’d banded together.”

Eyeing Malfoy suspiciously, Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but Malfoy held up a finger. “I’d be careful if I were you, Black. You wouldn’t want to defame my character. I didn’t do anything except possibly save Potter’s life.”

An angry sound escaped Harry’s throat, and Sirius noticed that he was gripping his broomstick so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“Potter,” began Moody, artfully stepping forward between Malfoy and Sirius, “have the Dementors been affecting you at all? I’ve noticed you setting off quite a few Patronus charms while you’re flying around up there.”

“No,” said Harry with force, and Sirius was certain that he was lying. He looked ill. His eyes were dull, and his skin pale and almost green in tint.

“May I be excused?” asked Malfoy, who, in contrast, appeared to be the picture of health. His hair looked like he’d just had it done, and his eyes were bright. “I have plans this evening.”

Sirius was about to object, but Moody nodded and Charlie said, “Sure, go ahead,” and then, with obvious force, added, “Thanks for all your help.”

“Right,” said Sirius, taking a step closer to Harry as Malfoy disappeared into thin air. “You’re coming home now.”

“I don’t live at Lupin Lodge anymore,” Harry said, not looking at Sirius. “I’m going to stay and see what’s wrong with Norbert.”

Sirius flinched at his tone, and narrowed his eyes at Charlie. "I think it's clear there's something wrong with the Ridgeback - there must be another dragon?”

“Sure,” said Charlie. We have a reserve because Malfoy brought his own. We don’t like to use him though – he’s named Flatulo for a reason.”

Moody snorted.

“I’m riding Norbert,” said Harry determinedly, turning his back and heading out the door. “Let’s go, Mick.”

Sirius knew by the very James-like set of his shoulders that it was useless to try and stop him. He watched him go - watched as the dragon riders and Moody followed Harry and made their ways out into the rain once more. Sirius remained alone in the headquarters, so frustrated that he could not resist the urge to kick something - his foot connected with solid wood and a chair splintered against the wall, but it gave him no relief. He was a failure as a godfather. They should have left Harry to Remus, he thought bitterly. He inwardly cursed James and Lily for trusting him, and resisted an urge to fly to their graves and jump up and down repeatedly. They should have known better. They had trusted him with important decisions before, and it had brought misery to everyone. Sirius had a feeling that, if they could have done it from beyond the grave, they would have revoked his guardianship and given Harry to someone else.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04