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Harry Potter and the Ritual of Love's Memory | ||||||
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Category: Post-HBP Characters:All Genres: Action/Adventure, General, Romance Warnings: Death, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Violence Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 259 Summary: After the horcrux hunt implodes leaving most of those Harry loves dead, he starts a new life with a few fellow survivors far away from wizarding Britain. But the discovery of an ancient ritual that promises to send a single memory back in time sparks hope that maybe things can change. Dark ending to DH followed by a tweaked retelling of GoF through DH. Harry/Ginny. Friday updates. Original Timeline Voldemort's Victory - Chapter 1-5 (Feel free to skip if you don't like major character deaths) Tenochtitlán - Chapter 6-9 New Timeline Harry's 4th Year - Chapter 10-28 Harry's 5th Year - Chapter 29-68 Harry's 6th Year - Chapter 69-Current Hitcount: Story Total: 169421; Chapter Total: 1772 Awards: View Trophy Room |
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The end of the term seemed somehow both blazingly fast and inexorably slow to Harry. Weeks sped by in a blur of classes, study sessions, and stolen moments with Ginny far from any sort of textbook or class notes. Yet, the interminable length of his classes only grew as each professor attempted to cram a few more nuggets of information into their already-overfilled brains. Most had given up on assigning homework, if only because all the Fifth Years looked to be spending every available moment revising for their OWLs. The arrival of the Ministry's testers may have caused a panic among some of the students, but Harry saw them as a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Professor McGonagall explained to the students during their final Transfiguration class that the exams would take place over the course of the next two weeks, though most of them already knew as much from peppering older students with questions. The written tests would occur in the mornings, followed by practical examinations in the afternoon. She waved her wand at a blackboard that filled with a schedule for the tests that the students copied down nervously. Harry woke up on the Monday exams were to begin in a fright after dreaming that he'd accidentally slept through the test, only to find the first glimmers of sunrise barely peeking through the window to the dormitory. Seamus and Ron were engaged in a pitched battle to see who could snore the loudest, while Dean had a leg draped off his bed and had pulled a pillow over the side of his face to block out the cacophony at some point in the night. Neville's bed was empty, and the light from the washroom indicated that Harry wasn't the only one whose nerves had woken them up. By the time Harry made his way down to breakfast, the entire Fifth Year contingent of Gryffindor students were on edge. Hermione had to apologize to a younger student after she snapped at him for laughing too loudly in the corridors, even though her outburst seemed justified to Harry as he fidgeted with his shirt sleeves. Ginny did her best to carry the conversation for the group, but the topic kept rerouting into questions that could come up on the upcoming Charms exam. The table was heavy with their books and notes, to the point that some plates had been unceremoniously stacked to the side by students more interested in last-minute cramming than eating. Harry and Ron were not among those who eschewed breakfast, even though Harry mostly pushed his sausage and eggs around on his plate rather than eating in his nervous state. As the mealtime waned, Ginny rolled her eyes, planted a quick kiss on Harry's cheek, and swiped the uneaten sausage from his plate before heading to her first class of the day. The students were ushered out of the Great Hall, which was soon filled with individual desks that were evenly spaced apart from each other. The Fifth and Seventh Year students murmured to each other as they took their seats, only becoming quiet as their proctor began to give instructions. Professor Tofty was short and wore a no-nonsense expression, but her voice was pleasant enough as she encouraged the students to do their best and to avoid behaviors that might give the impression of cheating. She handed out the lengthy exams to the assembled students, told them they had two hours to complete their work, and then instructed them to begin. Despite all the fretting that the Fifth Years had done over the past few months, Harry found many of the questions relatively easy. He had no trouble recalling the incantation or wand movements used to levitate an object and quickly answered most of the other questions from previous years. He was forced to skip a few questions along the way when his brain refused to remember details about a few more obscure charms, but he felt relatively confident that he'd figured them out when he returned to their page after completing the rest of the exam. When he finally turned his paper in, a sense of relief washed over him. He had been much more worried about the written test than his practical examination, and he hoped his confidence would survive the afternoon. Sure enough, Harry performed well when tasked with executing the charms that were asked of him by his instructor, and wizard who looked old enough to have tested Dumbledore. He had stumbled slightly when making his teacup do cartwheels by not stopping it before it careened off the table, but his Seeker reflexes allowed him to grab it by its small handle before it could hit the ground. His extra time spent practicing with Professor Flitwick during the lead-up to the end of the Triwizard Tournament had helped hone his charm skills significantly, and a year of extra effort on teaching helpful charms in Defense Club hadn't hurt, either. The Transfiguration exams the following day went much the same way. The written test was grueling and he had to flex his wrist multiple times while writing lengthy explanations on his essay questions, but Harry felt generally positive about it as he ate lunch along with the other students while waiting to do the practical. Hermione's proclivity to go over each exam in excruciating detail after its completion had grated against Ron's nerves enough to become an argument that Harry was doing his best to ignore. Just like the previous day, Harry found himself more than capable of performing the magic required of him during his practical exams. A few of his transfigurations came out a little bit off, but most were fairly innocuous. His only real mistake was when he transformed his pincushion into a full-sized porcupine instead of a hedgehog, but Professor Tofty had assured him that it was a common mistake. Harry didn't know how stringent the grading process would be, but he felt fairly confident that he'd at least earned an Exceeds Expectations on his first two exams, possibly a full Outstanding. Herbology didn't go nearly as well for Harry as his first two exams. He misidentified some of the pictures of seedpods on the written test and took a fairly nasty bite from a fanged geranium in the practical. He still felt as though he'd performed well enough to scrape an Acceptable, maybe even an Exceeds Expectations if they were grading leniently. Either way, Harry was glad to have the test behind him as he, Ron, and Hermione made their way to the Defense Chamber to meet with the rest of the Fifth Years and the Seventh Years. It had been Hermione's idea to reconvene the Defense Club the night before they took their OWLs and NEWTs, but all the students from those years had enthusiastically approved of the plan. When they arrived, they were thrilled to find Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and even Professor Snape working with small groups of students, though Harry quickly noticed that the Potions Master stuck mostly near Blaise, Daphne, Theo, and two Slytherin Seventh Years that Harry didn't know well. For nearly three hours, the group worked on various spells that were likely to be featured on their tests as their professors advised them. The highlight for Harry had been when the group finished with their Patronus practice. There were still a few students who could only produce a thick mist, but most of those who'd been with the group since the beginning could now conjure a corporeal Patronus. His pride swelled most when a silvery toad leaped out of Neville's wand, eliciting a shocked expression from both McGonagall and Snape. The Defense Against the Dark Arts written exam took Harry longer than any of his previous tests, but that was mostly because he kept going back to add more to his essay questions. It took him little time to realize that he knew almost all the material the questions covered and took a perverse pleasure in providing answers he'd gleaned in spite of Umbridge's miserable teaching. When he finally turned in his test, his chest swelled with pride at what he thought might be a perfect score. The practical exam went even better for Harry. Professor Umbridge was seated at a table that the proctors frequently visited and peered out across the Great Hall imperiously. Professor Tofty put him through his paces and whistled to herself twice after particularly impressive displays. His shield had been powerful enough to not only deflect the low-level jinx she had sent at him, but it had dispelled the bright yellow spell entirely. "Without a doubt, one of the best practicals I've overseen in many years," gushed Professor Tofty as she led Harry to the table where a scowling Umbridge was seated. "You should be exceptionally proud of yourself after that performance!" "Thanks, professor," replied Harry brightly, his eyes meeting Umbridge's as he approached the table. "I've been working really hard to improve my Defense this year." "And it certainly shows! Professor Dumbledore informed me that you and a few friends held regular study sessions to help other students keep up with some of the more challenging material. Is that true?" "Yes ma'am. After Voldemort's return last summer," Professor Tofty let out a small squeak at the name while Umbridge glowered at Harry all the more. "We knew that it was more important than ever for us to learn how to defend ourselves and the people we care about." "The headmaster also let slip that you could cast a corporeal patronus," the woman said in a conspiratorial tone. "Something that advanced should easily be worth a bonus point…" Harry smiled broadly as he imagined Professor Umbridge being unceremoniously sacked. "Expecto patronum!" The silvery stag burst into the Great Hall. With the wave of his wand, Harry had it charge the length of the room before circling back. Professor Tofty looked likely to topple over in delight as the great deer sauntered near her before dissolving into nothingness. "Oh, splendidly done! Simply marvelous!" She shook Harry's hand firmly with both her hands before dismissing him. He could hear her quietly murmuring under her breath about his patronus as she scribbled her notes. In a most Sirius-like fashion, he waggled his eyebrows at Professor Umbridge and gave her a cheeky smirk before exiting the Great Hall, fully assured that he had just earned an Outstanding. ~RLM~ With Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts behind him, Harry all but gave up studying for anything that wasn't related to Potions. The exam was scheduled for Monday, which left Friday (while Hermione and the other Ancient Runes students took their tests) and the weekend for a frenzy of furious cramming. Though the warm sunshine beckoned invitingly, Harry remained cloistered in the library or the student lounge for much of the weekend. Hermione had fastidiously noted every potion that Professor Snape had ever even implied might be covered on the OWLs, and her list helped the Fifth Years tremendously Ginny was kind enough to enlist Dobby's help to make sure that her Fifth Year friends had food when their studies ran long and kept them from mealtimes. Harry credited them with preserving Hermione and Ron's friendship, as her maniacal need to study clashed with his natural desire to eat every three or four hours. Twice, a plate of sandwiches from Dobby arrived just in time to prevent a heated argument. A nervous energy kept Harry from sleeping well the night before the exam. Even his Occlumency exercises did little to calm his racing mind. When he finally drifted off into fitful sleep, his dreams were plagued with overflowing cauldrons, skinless Boomslangs, and brief flashes of the corridor in the Department of Mysteries. He awoke with a dull headache, but Harry quickly readied himself for the day nonetheless. The knot in the pit of his stomach remained throughout his breakfast. None of the Fifth Year Gryffindors looked particularly excited about the Potions OWL, but he could see the strain of worry deeply set on the faces of Hermione, Ron, and Parvati. None of the others needed to get into Snape's upper-level class for their prospective careers, but the pressure of needing an Outstanding weighed heavily on the four counting on high enough scores to continue with the class. Though he wasn't nearly as confident about his performance on the Potions written exam as he'd been on the Defense or Transfiguration days, he found that the questions were less maddeningly specific in nature than those found on Snape's exams. Harry recalled a great deal of what he'd been studying with Hermione and the other Fifth Years. To his great surprise and relief, one of the most important sections involved an essay question on Polyjuice Potion. Having helped brew the concoction in his Second Year served as an excellent starting point in his knowledge of the potion, but he'd also gone over its details alongside Parvati over the weekend since she hadn't experienced the process with Hermione and Ron. Harry grinned while writing an addendum to his answer that it was important to make sure to only use hair from a human in the potion and to ensure that an animal's hair did not mistakenly end up in the potion sample. Harry wasn't exactly brimming with confidence after lunch as he waited to be called back into the Great Hall for the Potions practical exam, but he did feel as though he'd done well enough that an Outstanding wasn't completely out of the question. When a dark-haired witch named Madam Griselda Marchbanks called for him to enter, he took a deep breath to steel his nerves before walking purposefully toward her and the three cauldrons. One was completely empty, another was half-full of a mixture that resembled the dappled sky during a sunset, while the third was filled to the brim with a bubbling, turquoise-colored potion. The first potion he needed to brew was an Antidote to Common Poisons, which was simple enough to brew. Katie, Cho, and Cedric all listed it as one of the potions they had brewed during their OWLs, so Hermione had insisted that they go over it until Harry felt he could make one in his sleep. When he added the bezoar from the ingredient table and watched it sizzle, he released a small sigh of relief as it changed to the desired periwinkle color. Harry's second potion was a Strengthening Solution, which had to be brewed over the course of two days. Madam Marchbanks informed him that the turquoise liquid had been prepared the previous day and that his task was to complete the necessary steps to finish its creation. A jolt of excitement ran through Harry's brain when he realized that this was the same potion that Snape had vanished from his cauldron early in the previous term, awarding no points for the effort and assigning twelve inches of parchment on its correct brewing. Harry had muttered many strong words under his breath at Snape over the weekend while writing the essay but found that the extra time spent on it had lodged the ingredients and instructions in his head. He wasn't completely sure which direction he was supposed to stir, but remembered Ron noting that most potions with positive effects were stirred counter-clockwise. At the end of an hour of painstaking work, he poured the rest of the salamander blood into the cauldron with the powdered griffin claw and noted the approving nod from Madam Marchbanks as she scribbled on her grade sheet. The final potion proved to be the most challenging part of the Potions exam, and Harry thought it one of the most interesting problems he'd ever been assigned. The potion that looked like a sunset simmered in its cauldron as Marchbanks explained his final task. She informed him that the potion was a variety that was not taught at Hogwarts, even to the NEWT students. Harry was to examine a list of ingredients provided and eliminate the ones he thought were not a part of the potion, then determine the order to introduce the remaining ingredients, followed by giving a guess as to what kind of effects the potion would elicit. Madam Marchbanks smiled kindly when Harry's eyes became as wide as saucers behind his glasses. "Don't go giving me that look, Mr. Potter. You're not expected to get all of those answers correct, or even most of them. The point is to see how you go about the potioneering process: looking for clues and determining the most likely means to further your understanding of a potion. We couldn't do that with a potion that you've already memorized straight from the book." Relief washed over Harry, whose hopes of even passing the OWL had briefly fled from his heart. He rubbed his glasses against his shirt to give himself a clearer view of the potion and ingredients list before diving into the task. A few ingredients seemed out of place on the list, so he scratched them out with a quill before examining the remaining options more carefully. "Alright… So do I just explain what I think about the potion to you?" asked Harry with some trepidation, not sure of how to go about the process. "Yes, that's exactly what we want," replied Madam Marchbanks. "Walk me through your thought process about the potion. The more you talk, the better I understand what you're thinking. Even if you come to the wrong conclusion, the options you consider can be points in your favor." "That makes sense. I guess I'll start with the Lacewing Flies. I haven't seen them used much in potions, but they're late additions in the Polyjuice Potion and have to be stewed for a long time. Three weeks, if I remember correctly. So if they're a part of this potion…" He squinted as he peered at the ingredients sheet, then to the cauldron, then back to the sheet. "I'd bet they would be added once most of the other ingredients were already mixed in." "Well-reasoned, Mr. Potter," affirmed Madam Marchbanks, her quill moving quickly across her grading sheet. "What else stands out to you?" "The Billywig stings and stewed Mandrakes remind me a bit of the Invigorating Draught. Hard for me to be sure, but that makes me think that maybe this potion is meant to have some sort of fortifying effect on whoever drinks it." Madam Marchbanks said nothing but gave an encouraging nod as she continued to write. "I keep coming back to the Ashwinder scales…" puzzled Harry thoughtfully. "I know they're related to fire and heat, but the only thing I remember them being used for is love potions. But is that just the eggs? It might be…" He winced as he tried to remember anything about the Ashwinder beyond "snake born from an unattended magical fire," but came up empty. "I'm not sure, but maybe if the potion does something related to fortifying its drinker, it could work as an antidote to a love potion. Or maybe prevents someone from being vulnerable to love potions?" Harry grimaced to himself, not feeling confident about his hypothesis. "I'd marked off the Fire Orchid seeds at first, but now I'm not so sure… They've got heating properties. There's a chance they could work along with the Ashwinder scales. Maybe the potion fortifies someone from cold weather?" "Which answer would you like to lock in?" she asked, not giving anything away. "The heating one. I'll call it a Draught of Cold Resistance or something like that." "Quite impressive, Mr. Potter!" marveled Madam Marchbanks, allowing herself to smile brightly as her quill whizzed across her grading page. "You came remarkably close. This potion is actually used by mountain climbers while at high altitudes. It is a dual-purpose potion that can mitigate the effects of lower levels of oxygen while keeping the drinker warm in freezing temperatures." Harry had never considered that wizards might be inclined to scale mountains, much less that they would consider doing so such an important task as to require specialty potion-making. Madam Marchbanks seemed thoroughly unconcerned as she finished writing with a small flourish. "Well done, Mr. Potter. With that, you have completed your Potions OWL. I noticed you weren't at the Muggle Studies practical or Ancient Runes." She flipped to another page on her clipboard. "So you still have both of your electives ahead of you… You strike me as a Care of Magical Creatures student and perhaps… Arithmancy?" "Well, you're right about Care of Magical Creatures," answered Harry, finally feeling a bit of his tension subside now that he'd gotten through his last important OWL. "I've enjoyed Ha- Err… Professor Hagrid's class quite a lot. I didn't take Arithmancy, and I ended up dropping out of Divination to do an extra defense course this year." "Oh, of course it'd be you in the Advanced Defense class Professor Dumbledore mentioned!" declared the witch knowingly. "He asked me to meet with the faculty this summer to revamp the NEWT-level testing parameters for Advanced Defense, as he expected enough student interest to restart the course." She gave him an appraising up-and-down look while nodding to herself. Harry got the distinct feeling she was sizing him up and subtly tried to stand a little straighter. "After what you showed with that patronus of yours and the way Professor Tofty spoke about your practical last week, I'm sure you'll do well in Advanced Defense." Harry thanked Madam Marchbanks before exiting the Great Hall. All things considered, he'd performed about as well as he could have hoped. The questions had mostly been about potions he knew well enough and he hadn't been forced to make any wild guesses. He didn't feel confident that he'd achieve the Outstanding he needed to get into the NEWT-level Potions class, but as he stepped out of the castle and into the late spring afternoon sun, he felt better about his chances than he had over the past few months. ~RLM~ Care of Magical Creatures hadn't been Harry's top priority when it came to studying, and his overwhelmed brain rebelled at the idea of spending more time in the library following his marathon preparation for his Potions OWL. Nevertheless, he did spend two hours that evening going over notes with the other Fifth Years who would be sitting the exam. He very much hoped to do well, if only because it would reflect well on Hagrid as a professor. By the end of the practical, he didn't think he would be in the running for an Outstanding, but felt fairly confident he'd earned an Exceeds Expectations. Harry didn't want to count his chickens before they hatched, but he had spent a fair bit of time gaming out which OWLs he needed to prioritize to reach the five Exceeds Expectations scores he needed. McGonagall had indicated that the new Advanced Defense course could count for one, along with the Outstanding he felt confident he'd earned in his regular Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL. Transfiguration and Charms had both gone quite well the previous week and now Harry thought he must have scraped at least an Exceeds Expectations in Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. And if he was right about those five OWLs, that meant anything else was simply icing on the cake. That was a good thing because Astronomy and History of Magic were two of his worst subjects. Managing an Acceptable wasn't guaranteed in either class and Exceeds Expectations seemed like a pipe dream. Harry was quite pleased that he wouldn't be continuing in either class in his Sixth Year, no matter what scores he ended up earning. It was as if Harry's brain had decided that now that the tests didn't mean as much, it could shut down almost completely. In the written Astronomy test, he stumbled over questions that should have been easy for a Third Year. Embarrassingly, he couldn't remember one of the major constellations until after he'd already turned in his test. He audibly groaned when Canis Major jumped back into his head. He definitely would not be mentioning that particular lapse of memory to Sirius. The night-time practical went slightly better, but not by much. Harry misidentified a few of the more obscure constellations on his star chart and had a hard time picking out Jupiter from amongst a few nearby stellar objects. When he finally fell into bed after his late night of testing, he wanted to skip his Occlumency exercises, especially considering his early morning date with an arduous History of Magic exam that was scheduled to run into the afternoon. But his memory of McGonagall's stern admonition after his vision of the attack on Tonks replayed in his mind just enough to convince him to take the thirty minutes required to bolster his mental defenses before he finally succumbed to sleep. Even so, his dreams were plagued with scenes of the darkened hallway of the Department of Mysteries. He woke up twice in the night after almost reaching the door, which no longer appeared to be locked. Instead, it was open just a crack, and tantalizing light poured around the seams of the doorway. Being groggy after a short night of fitful sleep did nothing to help Harry remember the name of the wizard who first proposed that wands should be regulated by the Ministry of Magic, which Goblin founded Gringotts, or the year of the first Triwizard Tournament. In fact, Harry found himself nearly dozing off while filling in his best guesses regarding various goblin rebellions. His weary brain was thankful for a brief respite in the form of lunch, but he still dreaded the essay questions he'd be facing that afternoon. Most of the way through the interminable long answer section, Harry released a heavy sigh as he tapped his quill against the page. He was attempting to write an essay about the changes in the Statute of Secrecy through the centuries, but his eyes drooped as the late afternoon dragged on. Part of him wanted to just scrap the rest of the essay and accept his fate as a Dreadful History of Magic student, but he just continued to stare blankly at the parchment in front of him. He rested his cheek in his left hand as he attempted to access the memory of the classes when Professor Binns had droned on and on about the law, but he couldn't recall anything more than the few sentences he'd already scrawled onto the page. He noticed a nearby student audibly yawn and felt himself repeat the action. His eyes fluttered closed, just for a moment, and his head again nodded. He lacked the energy to shake himself awake and instead tried to open one eye wide while allowing the other to close. He took a deep breath as both eyelids slowly closed and darkness enveloped him. ~RLM~ The corridor was dark, but the light flooding from around the doorframe bathed the end of the hallway in an eerie, orange glow. Harry strode forward with purpose, determined to see what was on the other side. He gripped the knob and pushed at the heavy door until it swung away from him. Before him lay a circular room with many doors. A high, cold voice laughed from beyond one of the doors as Harry made his way in that direction. "You were better off in Azkaban rather than finding freedom. At least within those walls, you would not have suffered my wrath." The scream that echoed through the room caused a sense of panic to jolt through Harry's body as he moved toward the door. It was unlocked, but before he could reach it he heard the voice again. "Do you wish to live? You seek mercy? You will find no such quarter here. I will claim my prize and leave your corpse as a warning to any foolish enough to oppose me once I'm done with you." The door opened and Harry rushed through. Light flashed as the screams once again cut through the quiet of the empty department. "Once my task is complete, you will accompany me away from this place. No Aurors or clever plan from Dumbledore will be able to reach you, leaving me with all the time I need to break your mind and your body completely. Even though this process may take slightly longer without the boy present, I will still have plenty of opportunities to repay you for your opposition. "Even if the boy could make it here in time to aid in securing my prize, what chance is there that he could retrieve the prophecy? No doubt he would involve members of your little Order and that would mean you and I would have need to make a hasty exit. You would pay dearly for such an intrusion…" Harry saw a tall, pale figure in a dark cloak standing above a man tied to a chair. The tall man pointed his wand at his prisoner and cried, "Crucio!" Light flashed in Harry's eyes as the man convulsed, his screams echoing into the distance. "Perhaps if he came alone, I could be convinced to offer a trade," mused Voldemort as Harry pushed himself to reach them faster. "But, then again, he probably doesn't care enough to risk his life for yours…" Voldemort slashed his wand at the man tied to the seat. Harry was almost close enough to jump between the curse and its target when Sirius' dulled grey eyes turned to meet his. His features were sunken and worn. A trickle of blood ran down from his broken nose and one eye was swollen mostly shut. He gasped out Harry's name before the spell connected, his piercing screams mingling with Harry's. |
| Reviews 259 |
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