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Chapter Nine: Learning the Truth

Hermione,

I saw Harry awake for the first time this morning. He seems OK. Mum said he got sick and couldn't eat, and those Muggles didn't even notice that anything was wrong with him. I don't understand why Harry has to go back there every summer. I don't know how Dumbledore thinks that he is safe there. But Mum says there's no other choice. At least he's here with us now, and they are not going to send him back this holiday, so that's good.

We all wish you were here. We could really use your brains trying to figure everything out with Harry. I know you are happy to be home, but do you reckon your parents would let you come to visit?

Ginny's starting to suspect that something's up with you and me. She's always on about it. Will you please tell her nothing's happening so she'll leave me alone? This is between us for now, right?

Everyone else is doing OK here. Send your new owl back when you get a chance.

Ron

Just as Ron was rolling up the small scroll of parchment to send to Hermione, he heard a soft knock at his door. He groaned inwardly; he knew it would be Ginny, here to tease him for writing to Hermione again. He hastily attached the letter to Pig's leg and opened the window to send the owl on his way before he crossed the room to open the door.

It was Ginny, but it was immediately apparent that she had not come to tease her brother. Her hand was clasped tightly around a pack of Exploding Snap cards, and she was shaking, her face pale white and tearstained.

"Ginny?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Ron..." she answered, and the tears welled up in her eyes again as he led her into the room and she sat on the edge of the bed Harry had slept in the previous summer.

"Blimey, Ginny, what's the matter?" Ron asked. He didn't think it could be about Harry - they had left him less than an hour ago and he had been doing well, almost back to normal. Maybe it was about Dean...Ron had never approved of that relationship. But Ginny hadn't talked about Dean since before Harry had arrived, so Ron really didn't know what to think.

"I saw...something was happening..." Ginny struggled with her words, her fear showing plainly on her face. "Harry...having a dream or something...I don't know."

So it was about Harry. Ron felt a jolt of fear for his best friend. He had seen Harry go through a lot, and had been right beside him most of the time. But this time, Harry seemed almost unreachable, as if whatever was plaguing him was inside of him, rather than a threat from the outside, a threat from Voldemort. Ron wondered if Sirius' death and everything Harry had to go through the past five years was finally pushing his friend past his breaking point.

"What is it?" Ron asked softly.

Ginny sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her t-shirt. She could not fall apart right now. It was obvious that Harry needed them more than he ever had. "I went to his room to see if he wanted a game of cards," she started. "I sort of thought he might like the distraction, since I heard Mum sending you, Fred, and George out of the room."

"Yeah, Fred and George gave Harry one of their biting teacups. Mum wasn't too thrilled about that," Ron said.

"Right." Ginny said, taking a deep breath. "Anyway, the door was open a bit, and Professor Lupin was talking to Harry. I was just about to knock when Harry suddenly grabbed his scar, and Lupin starting shaking him and shouting."

"Lupin was shouting at Harry?" Ron was confused. That didn't seem like the even-tempered professor that he had come to know.

"Harry's eyes rolled back like he was having a fit, but then he started...talking, I guess, but his voice didn't sound right."

"What did he say?"

"He said something about...'you can have me, but leave them alone.' Ron, what did he mean by that? Who was he talking to? Lupin kept shouting at him to fight it, but I don't understand. Fight what?"

Ron bit his lip, thinking hard. Pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place, and he wished that Hermione were there to help him sort this out. She would have figured it out immediately! Harry becoming so sick on Privet Drive that he couldn't eat, Dumbledore spending every spare moment in Harry's room, the haunted look in Harry's eyes, and the fact that the adults in the house would not let Harry be alone even for a second, even when he was sleeping. "You-Know-Who..." he whispered brokenly. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have not seen what was happening to his best friend?

"/What/?" Ginny jumped off the bed and began to pace. "Ron, what are you talking about? You-Know-Who, /here/? It can't be!"

"Ginny, shut up for a second and let me think!" The wards around Privet Drive, coupled with the blood protection from Harry's aunt, should have been enough to keep Harry safe from any kind of attack from You-Know-Who or the Death Eaters. But what if it wasn't? What if You-Know-Who had been able to break into Harry's mind the way he had done when he tricked Harry into going to the Department of Mysteries? This was bad...it was much worse than Ron had suspected, and he didn't like to think of what his friend had been trying to deal with, all alone on Privet Drive. Of course, Harry didn't like to tell people what he was feeling...he always thought that he had to go it alone...stupid prat!

Ron was screwing his face up in thought, and Ginny waited a moment before she broke in. "Want to clue the rest of us in on what's happening?"

Ron hesitated. Harry had never been as open with Ginny as he was with Ron and Hermione, but without Hermione there, Ron needed someone else to talk to. He noticed then, for the first time, that Ginny was hardly a little girl anymore. She was going into her fifth year, after all, and Ron thought of all the things he, Harry, and Hermione had been through by the time they reached fifth year. Perhaps he could confide in Ginny about this.

"Ginny, you know how we found out that Harry's dream, or vision, or whatever you call it, about Sirius in the Department of Mysteries was a trick?"

"Yeah," said Ginny slowly. "You-Know-Who made him think Sirius was in trouble to get him to come."

"Right. Harry said Dumbledore reckoned that You-Know-Who had figured out that Harry could break into his mind after Harry saw the attack on Dad." Ron shuddered. He still didn't like to think of that. "And he also figured out that if Harry could break into his mind, he could do the same thing."

"You-Know-Who can read Harry's mind?"

"Sort of," Ron answered thoughtfully, wishing again that Hermione was here to sort through all of this with him. "Snape was trying to teach Harry how to block him, but it never really worked. Harry kept having the dreams, and until the thing with Sirius happened, we all kind of thought it was a good thing, because, you know, Harry saved Dad's life with it...we couldn't understand why everyone wanted it to stop."

"If it hadn't been for Harry, Dad would have died," Ginny whispered.

"Yeah," said Ron almost as softly. "But Ginny, I think that You-Know-Who has been getting into Harry's head again. I think that is what made him so sick, why he couldn't eat, or sleep properly."

"But You-Know-Who can't get to him when he's on Privet Drive!" Ginny exclaimed. "That's why he has to go there!"

"I know that, Ginny...but what if he found a way to do it?"

"Maybe Harry's just having nightmares again," Ginny suggested. "I mean, who wouldn't, after all he's been through?"

"Was Harry asleep when went all...weird?" Ron couldn't think of a better way to put it. That was Hermione's department.

"No," Ginny answered, her face starting to register even more fear than before. "No, he was awake, talking to Professor Lupin. He looked OK, and then...and then he..." Against her will, Ginny's eyes started to fill again as she thought of the scene she had witnessed.

"His dreams almost always happened late at night, after he had been asleep for a bit," Ron answered. "I know that because I was usually there when they happened, since we share a dormitory. If you say he wasn't asleep at all, then I don't know how it could have been one of his dreams. Even when he had the dream about Sirius, it was when he had dozed off in his History of Magic O.W.L."

"Ron, I'm scared," Ginny said, the slightest trace of panic in her soft voice.

"Me too," Ron answered, somewhat astonished with himself that he would mention his fear to his sister.

"How can we help him?"

"I don't know. He seemed OK when we were all in his room, making jokes and talking about Quidditch and stuff. I think right now we just need to be there for him."

Ginny nodded. What her brother said made sense, and she couldn't help but notice how much more intelligent and understanding Ron seemed when he wasn't being overshadowed by Harry's heroism and Hermione's brain. As Ron got up to write another letter to Hermione, she made a promise to herself that she would help Harry through this. She was sick of watching on the sidelines as her brother and even Hermione bumbled their way around Harry. He needed someone to take care of him, and he had saved her life in her first year. She owed it to him. She was going to help Harry Potter, even if she didn't quite know how.

*

"Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley called cheerfully as she entered his room. "You have some visit-" She broke off suddenly. Harry was curled into a ball under his covers, clearly asleep, and Remus Lupin was sitting on the edge of his bed, one hand on Harry's thin shoulder, the other covering his own eyes.

She crossed the room quickly, and Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody, and Arthur Weasley came into the room after her, halting when they saw the scene. Harry looked almost as drained as he had when he had first arrived at headquarters, and the peaceful look he had worn when he was talking to the Weasley children had vanished. He looked drawn and pale again, and his forehead and fringe were damp from sweat.

"Remus?" Molly put a hand on his arm. "What's happened? Is Harry OK?"

Remus looked up at her, his eyes sad and worried. "He's alright now, Molly. Voldemort's broken into his mind again. I saw it happen." His voice broke, and he sounded tired and defeated.

"But...the wards..." Arthur stammered. "How could You-Know-Who get past the wards? How could he find Harry?"

"I don't know, Arthur," answered Remus. "All I can think is that maybe Voldemort no longer needs to know Harry's location to break into his mind."

Tonks interrupted, "but time and space matter in Legilimency! It's one of the basic principles...if Voldemort didn't know where Harry was, how could he find him to break into his mind?"

Alastor Moody answered in his gruff voice, "If Voldemort could find Harry here, the place would be swarming with Death Eaters." He suddenly looked suspiciously at the people gathered in Harry's room.

"The same could be said about Privet Drive, Moody," Remus reminded him. "And from what Harry has said, I have to assume the same thing happened there. Voldemort must have at least found a way around the wards mentally, even if he couldn't get to him physically."

"The boy has got to learn Occlumency," Moody growled. "And quickly, too."

"Dumbledore is coming every morning starting tomorrow to work with him on that," Molly answered. "If anyone can teach Harry all he needs to know in a short amount of time, it's Dumbledore."

The others nodded in agreement. Harry's eyes began to flutter, and the attention in the room snapped to him as though attached to a rubber band.

"Wotcher, Harry," said Tonks, trying to sound like her cheerful self and failing miserably. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the five people surrounding his bed, looking at him like he were some kind of exhibit.

"Uh...hi..." he said hoarsely.

"Harry, how do you feel?" Molly asked him gently, giving him a soft hug as he struggled into a sitting position and reached for his glasses.

"I'm OK," answered Harry softly. He noticed Moony looking askance at him, but thankfully he didn't say a word, holding himself to what he had said to Harry - that he could put up whatever kind of front he wanted for the others.

"Alright, Harry," Remus answered. "Is there anything you need?"

"No," Harry said, looking down at his fingers, which were working the bedcovers nervously.

"Do you need a potion for your headache?" Remus prodded quietly. "You have to take your others as well, so it would only be one more."

Harry nodded, still not pulling his eyes up to look at the group.

Remus went to the dresser and pulled three small bottles out of the assortment. "Harry, this one is the Strengthening Potion, this one is the Nutritive Potion, and this one will help your headache, OK? Nothing fancy this time." Harry knew he was referring to the Dreamless Sleep Potion that he had been given that morning. He was almost tempted to ask for another dose of that, but he remembered from Potions class that an overdose of that could put him into an irreversible sleep.

As Harry drank his potions, the adults in the room let out a collective sigh of relief as the color returned immediately to Harry's face and his eyes lost some of their dullness as his headache vanished. God bless Madam Pomfrey.

"How are you feeling, son?" Arthur asked, calling him "son" automatically. He was not as demonstrative as Molly, but he also thought of Harry as one of his own children.

"Better, thanks, Mr. Weasley," Harry answered, his voice sounding less hoarse and more like the voice they were used to. "Those potions really work fast." He attempted to smile at them, but the smile did not reach his green eyes.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Tonks, recovering some of her normal exuberance in her relief. "Madam Pomfrey's pretty good, isn't she? I remember when I was at school, I got in the way of a bad hair-growing jinx. I looked like an old man by the time I got to her, hair everywhere, but she set me to rights in seconds."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "She's really pretty good."

"Harry, dear," Molly said. "Professor Dumbledore will be here tomorrow to start working with you on your Occlumency. We'll have this taken care of before you know it, so you just hang in there."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered, looking down at his hands again. Even though he felt better, he could not forget Voldemort's threats on the people he held dearest. He really had no right to expect help from them - they were in danger just by being near him.

Remus seemed to read Harry's mind, and he said, "Harry, we are all here to help you, like it or not. There's just not anything you can do about it."

"Right," said Arthur determinedly. Tonks, Molly, and even Moody nodded their agreement.

"I think that Harry's probably ready for some dinner," Molly proclaimed, looking at Harry. "I've got a treacle tart baking. I know it's your favorite."

Harry nodded. He wasn't hungry, of course, but he knew that arguing was futile.

"Remus, Tonks, Alastor, would you like to come and help in the kitchen?" Molly asked, although it wasn't really a request. Remus needed some time to recover from what he had seen Harry going through, and Molly knew that Harry was not yet close to Tonks or Moody, and probably preferred to be with someone more familiar right now. "Arthur can stay here with Harry. Alright?" Lupin looked very reluctant to leave Harry's side, but he agreed, and they followed Molly out of the room, leaving Arthur behind with Harry.

As they were closing the door behind them, they heard Arthur ask, "How about a game of chess, Harry? Ron says you're quite good even though you can't beat him. Don't worry about it; I can't beat him either." Molly was relieved; she thought that Harry could use a calm diversion from such serious conversation, and she was right in thinking that Arthur would be just the person to provide him with it. He had always had a way of helping his children cope with difficulties without overwhelming them with conversation, and she hoped the same would be true for Harry.