THE MOST FAITHFUL

OCCLUMANCY

Everyone at Grimmauld Place spent the next morning hanging up Christmas decorations. Harry didn't remember ever seeing Sirius in such a good mood, he even sang Christmas carols. Harry could hear his voice echoing across the floor in the cold living room where he sat alone, looking out the window at the whiter sky, heralding snow. He wondered if he would snow at Hogwarst too, maybe he could ask Byron by letter, if they could communicate. Maybe they would stop him, it was dangerous, even if Mrs. Weasley kept thanking him he knew he didn't have to be there. If he was really connected to Voldemort's mind he was giving him information about the order. That was why Dumbledore hadn't wanted him there for months. And no one wanted to explain more, he was sure there was something important that they kept hidden from him. When at lunchtime he heard Mrs. Weasley that she softly called her name on her up the stairs, retreated even higher and ignored her. At about six in the evening the doorbell rang and Mrs. Black began screaming again. Imagining that Mundungus or some other member of the Order had arrived, Harry just sat back against the wall of Buckbeak's room where he was hiding, trying to ignore the pangs of hunger as he fed dead mice to the Hippogriff. It was a little scare when someone knocked on the door a few minutes later. "I know you're in there," said Hermione's voice. "Are you going out, please? I want to talk to you." "And what are you doing here?" Harry asked as he opened the door as Buckbeak scraped the straw on the floor for mouse scraps. "Aren't you supposed to go skiing with your parents?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, skiing is not for me" Hermione replied. "So I came here to spend Christmas." She had snow on his hair and a red face from the cold. "But don't tell Ron. I told him that skiing is great, as he kept laughing. Mum and Dad were a little upset, but I explained that anyone who takes exams seriously stays at Hogwarts to study. They want it to go well, they will understand me. Anyway... " she said sharply. "Let's go to your room, Ron's mom lit the fire and sent up some sandwiches."

Harry followed her to the second floor. When he walked into the room, he was quite surprised to find Ron and Ginny waiting for him, sitting on Ron's bed.

"I came with the Knight Bus" Hermione said lightly, pulling off her jacket before Harry had time to speak. "Yesterday morning Dumbledore told me what happened, but I had to wait for the official end of classes to leave. Umbridge is already livid because you disappeared under her nose, even though Dumbledore told her that Mr. Weasley was at St Mungos and had given you permission to visit him. So..." He sat down next to Ginny, and the three of them looked at Harry.

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked.

"Good" Harry replied stiffly.

"Oh, don't lie, Harry," she said impatiently. "Ron and Ginny say you've been hiding from everyone since you got back from St Mungos."

"Ah, do they say so?" Harry retorted, giving Ron and Ginny a grim look.

Ron looked down at his feet, but Ginny didn't look embarrassed at all.

"Well, that's right!" she blurted out. "And don't even look us in the face!"

"I don't want you to look at me with pain" Harry snarled, digging his hands into his pockets and looking at the snow that was now falling hard. "I was possessed by Voldemort, I attacked your father"

"It wasn't you" Ginny said angrily "And you weren't even possessed by Voldemort, I tried it and if you'd deigned to ask me I would have explained how it was."

Harry stood still absorbing the impact of those words. Then he turned around. "I forgot that ..."

"Lucky you," Ginny muttered coldly.

"I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely. "So ... so you think I'm not possessed?"

"Do you remember everything you did?" Ginny asked. "Are there moments of emptiness when you don't know what you've done?"