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SIYE Time:20:27 on 28th March 2024
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The Veil
By Mutt N Feathers

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Category: Post-OotP, Holidays
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 113
Summary: In the fall of 1996 Harry finds a book about the ancient holidays just before Samhain, or what has become Hallowe'en. Tradition says communication with the dead is possible. Harry enlists Ginny to help him find out if its true.
Hitcount: Story Total: 59012; Chapter Total: 1228
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Hello all. Here's the next chapter Many thanks to my dear friend, Arnel, who has been my beta for going on 10 years now. I am a better writer because of you. I love our weekly meetings to pound out plot lines. You are a gem. MNF




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Chapter 26

Harry and his godfather were continuing to talk at the rear of the house. Sirius had been kind enough to teach Harry the warming charm, so now neither felt the rapidly falling temperature. The sun had set, and the world was painted in grey hues. There was a comfort for both raven-haired men in the varying depths of shadows; no one could see your face to know if you were lying or telling the truth. They both had learned to lie to hide the trauma in their lives. The funny thing was, they never could lie to the other.


Julia burst through the door, surprising both. “Sirius, come quick, something is happening to Anwen.” The young witch’s husband didn't need any more information. He tore past his adoptive mother and took the stairs two at a time to reach their bedroom. There he found Lily on the bed with Anwen, wiping her brow and Remus seated beside her, deep in concentration attempting to enter her mind. Anwen, however, was thrashing about, James trying to keep her legs still, but he was losing the battle.


“Moony, help her,” Sirius begged as he entered and took Lily’s place.


“I’m doing the best I can,” Remus said, “but all I’m getting from her is chaotic screaming. I can’t get any deeper into her head.”


“What do you mean?” Harry asked, no one realizing he’d followed his grandmother and godfather up to the first floor.


"I mean, her ‘backdoor' is gone, and I'm getting a mental picture of what we see physically," Remus said, panicking.


"How long can she stay like this, Mum?" Lily asked Julia. The older woman waved her wand and exhaled before speaking.


“With her using as much magic as she is, not long. Twelve hours might be the best we can hope for.”


"We have to do something!" Sirius pleaded. He wasn't good at Legilimency; he had other ways to make people talk when he needed information. Thinking back to some of what he'd done in the last war made him shiver. He knew what his wife's mind felt like, but he honestly believed that it had more to do with her than him when they merged. It didn't hurt that when it happened, they were physically, intimately, connected. He searched for the warmth and comfort of his lover, but she wasn't locatable. Sirius was beginning to feel desperate — something was missing from him that he hadn't lost the whole time he'd been in Azkaban.


"James, I'm losing her," he said in a panic. "I can't find her."


“What can’t you find, Pads?” The other man had moved closer to his friend and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.


“That…feeling. You know the one, the warmth in your gut. I never lost it the whole time I was in,” he hesitated, “that place. Now, I can't find her!" James knew what his friend was talking about, and he had the feeling with Lily. He couldn't imagine being without it.


"Julia," Remus said, "I can't get in, and now the screaming is gone." The gathered looked at Anwen and then at each other. No one knew what to do next.


“It’s okay,” Harry said rather loudly, swaying a bit before his mother caught him. “She’s talking to me.”


“How?” Remus asked. “I thought you had yourself locked up?”


“When Volde–Tom disappeared, I let my shields down,” Harry explained. “Anwen crossed through the connection and is talking to me.”


“What is she saying? Is she okay? Does she know I’m here?” Sirius asked, never allowing Harry time to answer. Remus got up and gave Harry his chair and took a few deep breaths before chuckling.


“Padfoot, she told me to tell you she’s fine and you need to relax; you’re making her dizzy,” Harry said aloud and then more quietly added: “She’s dizzy? I have a whirling dervish in my head.”


“That’s a good way to describe her, Pads,” Lily said.


“Not the time, Petal.” Sirius retorted.


Harry was unnaturally quiet for a few very long moments before slumping back in the chair. "Remus, she locked you out because, in her words, ‘Moldy-shorts' was screaming because he felt the destruction of the last Horcrux. It knocked him out, but when he awoke, he was furious. She also said his physical body is deteriorating, wherever it is. He can feel it. She also told me where the last Horcrux is within Hogwarts." Harry stopped to laugh a bit. "It's somewhere she found and never told you about, so it isn't on the damned invasive map."


“Can’t be missing from the map,” Sirius said. “We found all the castle’s secrets.”


“No, we didn’t,” Prongs said, "she had a place she went when you were a git. I followed her once and promised I wouldn't add it to the map."


"Dad, it's not the music room she'd hide in. Ginny and I know it well," he said, looking for her and smiling wildly when his eyes found hers. "We're going back to where we started this adventure."


“The Room of Requirement. How appropriate,” Ginny replied.

***


With the thrashing over, Julia and Lily prepared several potions for Anwen and quickly plied them. When her color returned, and the heartbeat was strong and steady, Sirius carried her downstairs. They were surprised to find Andrew sitting in the library with Fawkes on an old bird stand beside him.


“Ah,” said Remus, “the favor you asked Dumble–” Sirius growled. “HIM for.”


“He should be able to help Anwen,” Andrew said. “The man was willing to do anything to get back into any of our good graces.”


“Not nearly enough,” Sirius said while laying his wife down and kissing her gently. He was relieved to feel her living presence again. They had to get her out of her mind, but they just needed Voldemort to stay useless for a while longer. Fawkes flew over and began to sing to her. His belly began to glow, but instead of him catching fire, he started to pour pure magic down her throat. Anwen let out an audible sigh. Julia did her wand movements again and relaxed.


“We’ve gained another six to eight hours,” she said. Sirius still looked intense and stalked back and forth in front of his wife.


“No one is saying He’s done enough, Sirius," Eva said kindly as she guided him away from Anwen. "The best thing we can do now is to find this last Horcrux. We can deal with HIM another day." Eva had been changing the pitch of her voice while she spoke. It wasn't entirely singing, but it was enough to lure Sirius back to the table. She had been prepared to do this from the moment Remus told her of their friend's dangerous plan. She wasn't making him do anything he wouldn't have chosen to do if his mind wasn't so clouded with concern. At least that is what she told herself so she could sleep at night.


“Where are we going?” James asked his son.


"The Room of Requirement, also known as the come and go room, is a place that can be anything we need it to be. The first time I found it was when we were looking for somewhere to hold our meetings of Dumbledore’s Army. However, it is also the room we first met you all in, with the table and the nice furniture. I even found it once as a junk room when I accidentally messed up a potion in Hermione's copper cauldron. I disposed of the rubbery sludge in there, then had to go and get it for Fred and George."


“Is that how they developed Ever-Bounce Balls? They were very sketchy on the details,” Ginny asked.


"Yeah," Harry confirmed. "Anyway, Anwen was able to peek into Voldemort's mind while he was throwing his fit. It's a slightly bent, kind of flashy tiara thing that's stuffed into a cupboard."


“How do we get in from the outside?” Remus asked.


"We don't," Andrew answered. "Fawkes will flash whoever is going to retrieve it directly into the room. The person and the item will then return the same way. I think we're going to need everyone to get rid of this final thing, and we certainly will when we remove the bit in Harry."


“Do you think it’s safe to have just one person go to Hogwarts?” Sirius asked.


“Safer than all of us going,” Andrew replied.


“I’ll go,” Harry said.


In almost perfect unison, the group replied, "NO!"


“Why? I know the room.”


“Because, if this is anything like the last one, it will have a spell on it.”


“So, I wear Sirius’ ugly gloves.”


"Harry, we can't risk you having some reaction to the soul bit contained in the tiara," Julia tried to soothe the young man. "Instead, you need to stay here so your mum and I can begin plying you with potions to keep you safe while we remove that Horcrux from you.”


"I'll go," James said. "I know the school well, and Harry has given us a good description of where I'll find the thing."


“No offense, James, but you haven’t been in the school since nineteen seventy-seven,” Ginny said. “Let me go. If somehow I’m seen, it won’t be that big of a deal. Harry and I will be going back in a few weeks anyway.”


“You are not going alone,” Harry said definitively.


"She won't be," Sirius said with a smile. "The Marauders need to make some mischief once again." Lily and Eva exchanged a look before they both rolled their eyes. At least Ginny had more magical skills than Peter had. She was much smarter than him as well. Lily looked between her husband and his mates and chose not to contemplate what could go wrong.


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