Opened At The Close...

8: Stags and Sparrows

*Notice-Relatively short chapter.
    Harry had sent letters with Amare to Ron, Ginny, and Hermione the following week, baring the frantic question of what he should write his speech about. Of course, Hermione's advice was most beneficial.
   Dear Harry,
  You should write a brief description about the horcrux business; that we went to hunt and destroy them before we could kill him for good. Then, pay tribute to those who died in the Battle. I think that would be nice. Make sure it has a good ending, though, something that leaves chills down your spine. Whenever we come to spend the night the day before the ball, I can look over it for you.
   Love from
Hermione
    Upon receiving this letter, Harry went straight to work at the kitchen table while Teddy played on the floor with a teacup that Harry had put an Unbreakable Charm on. As Teddy tinked the cup on the legs of Harry's chair, Harry tried to write a relatively good speech. After three hours of Teddy's tinking, Amare's occasional squawks, and the scratching of Harry's quill upon the parchment, the speech was looking promising to Harry. He had tried his most to make it sound like something Dumbledore would say, because Dumbledore had always had admirable speech making skills. Also, as an addition, he had thrown in a quote from Sirius.
  I know you all would like to hear about how Lord Voldemort was vanquished. The answer is simple, though I must ask all of you for your full attention. Voldemort had severed his soul into seven pieces and hidden them in seven objects. These objects were called Horcuxes. He had hidden them across the country with varying amounts of magical protection. Voldemort could only be truly gone if all of his soul was vanquished. I had unknowingly destroyed one in my second year at Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore destroyed one in my sixth year. Of course, he knew what he was doing. He was Dumbledore; he always knew. There were then only five left, and luckily Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and myself found three and killed them. Therefore there were two left by the Battle of Hogwarts, and they were both abolished that same night; one by Neville Longbottom and one by Voldemort himself. Of course, in Voldemort's case it was an accident, because he didn't know that what he was killing was a horcrux. He didn't even know that he had made it into a horcrux, but he killed it anyway, and that was essential to his own death. Let us applaud Neville and the other fighters of the Battle for their bravery.
   But, as you all know, there were many people sacraficed in the Battle. Many wonderful lives lost, children orphaned, wives widowed. So, to those brave individuals I would like to raise a glass in a moment of silence as we remember their valor and determination.
  I would like you all to remember that, even though these times seem hard, even though our lost loved ones seem unreachable; there is still the ray of hope that now our futures lie unobstructed. Let it be known that here in this very hall a great evil was destroyed. Evil is not neccessarily gone forever, for evil will never be gone forever. However, remember that there is light and dark inside all of us, but what matters is what we choose to act upon. Thank you.
  
Very happy with the way it had turned out, Harry went to bed that night reasonably content.
  The next morning there was a knock on the door, however, and all hell seemed to break loose inside him as he answered it.
"Malfoy," Harry said stiffly, staring at the pale blond figure standing on his steps.
"Potter," Malfoy repeated with equal stiffness." May I come in?"
"I suppose." Harry said coldly, stepping aside and throwing Draco a look of utmost hatred.
"I sent you an owl last week," Draco said unconsequentially.
"I got your owl. I didn't think you would come if I  didn't respond to it, though," Harry answered, leading Malfoy into the kitchen, where Amare stood on her perch and Teddy (hair color a dark red today) sat playing with his teacup again. Draco noticed Teddy first.
"That kid yours?" He asked, taking a seat. "I have to say that the Weasley girl didn't look pregnant last year at scho-"
"Shut up, Malfoy! Get your head out of the gutter!" Barked Harry; he was pleased to see that Malfoy jumped at his words.(He didn't notice that Amare and Teddy jumped, too.)
"I was only trying to joke," Malfoy said defensively.
    "Well, it wasn't funny. He's Teddy, my godson. Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks's son. They died in the Battle," He said shortly, adding venomously," You do remember Professor Lupin? I think it was you who was always commenting on how shabby his robes were while the rest of the school focused on how great his classes were."
   Malfoy winced."You don't think I feel bad about that now? You really think that I have no regrets about working for...him?" He said quietly. Harry stared at him, silent; he had not expected this at all.
"Do you really think that I enjoy my life now? Carrying the burden that I was a Death Eater isn't a light task, Potter. Everywhere I go people cast dirty looks at me, as if they think I meant for all those people to get killed...I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Draco repeated, then he stopped and wiped his eyes hastily. Harry had been trying not to feel sympathy or this guy, but now he couldn't help it. He really did fell remorse for his actions, and Harry could not stay mad at him forever. He knew that they could never be friends, but he also knew that they could not stay enemies.
"All right. Let's call a truce, then. No violence between us from now on," Harry said with finality. Draco nodded, and they shook hands.
"Say, Potter, I heard that you're an Auror...?" Draco cast Harry a questioning look. Harry nodded, a little confused.
"Do me a favor. If you capture my dad, give him a good kick in the soft spot from me, for leaving like the coward he is," Draco said venomously. Harry smiled.
"I would be honored," Harry replied.
"You don't mind if I Apparate from inside, do you?" Draco asked with what Harry assumed to  be a polite edge to his voice.
"No," Harry said.
"Nice phoenix, by the way," Draco said. There was a silver-blond nod, and then Malfoy was gone. Harry couldn't have been more relieved. Sure, it was one weight off his shoulders, but it had been an awkward visit.
                                  *_____*_____*

    On the night before the Ball, Harry sent Amare to Andromeda asking if she would take care of Teddy the night of the ball. She sent back her letter immediately.

Dear Harry,
I can keep Teddy for the whole weekend, if you want. I know you haven't been doing much at work lately, and frankly I have nothing to do either. By the way, this phoenix is beautiful. Is she yours?
Your friend,
  Andromeda

   Harry sent back his letter as fast as she did.

Dear Andromeda,
   Do you want to keep him tonight, too? I was planning  on taking him with me to the Weasleys for dinner, but if you want to take him instead that would be fine. And, yes, the phoenix is mine. Her name is Amare, which Hermione told me after I named her is Latin for 'love.'
Your friend,
Harry

   As Harry waited for Andromeda's reply, he sat on the sofa in a sitting room with Teddy in his lap. Teddy had taken a liking to the teacup, and was now chewing it as Harry kept a watch on the couldron on Felix Felicis, which he was to be to stirred once clockwise every twenty minutes for two hours. (By the end of the two hours it was suppossed to be a blood red color.) Meanwhile, Kreacher dusted the whole room.
"Kreacher, can you stir the potion on that desk for me?" Harry asked, as he took a familiar piece of aged parchment from the set of wooden drawers next to the sofa."I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,"
  Harry decided earlier that day to look the castle, even though only the teachers were in it. There was Flitwick's tiny dot in the Charms classroom, practicing spells. The Room of Requirement didn't show up, but Harry knew where it was. Professor Trelawney's dot was shown walking on the seventh floor corridor, then it vanished. Harry sighed and said,
"Mischeif Managed," to the map, which became blank at once. There wasn't much to look at that day, Harry decided.
  Repostitioning Teddy on his lap, Harry took his wand and started to do a number of spells which he knew would amuse Teddy. He made the baby's teacup float, and Teddy giggled entusiastically. He tried his best to conjure a balloon, and succeeded somewhat, for the balloon showed up, but was untied and flew around the room, making Teddy gasp for air because he was laughing so hard. Then, Harry(who was having a good time himself) made little rings of smoke come out of the tip of his wand, and watched as Teddy eagerly tried to grab them. Finally, Harry thought with all of his might on Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Teddy, then said stongly and confidently,
"Expecto Patronum!"  And a silver stag burst from the tip of Harry's wand, galloping around the room as Teddy watched with awe, and suddenly, his hair turned a neon green.
    Amare came soaring gracefully into the room at that moment, and Harry was distracted by her; the silver stag vanished into nothingness. After ordering Kreacher to stir the potion again, Harry took the letter from her beak, and, opening it, read:

Dear Harry,
  Sure. I can take him tonight. Bring him to the house in an hour or two, and don't worry about packing his clothes or anything; I have plenty of clothes and formula here. As for Amare, you really should be proud. I wanted a phoenix once at Eyelop's whenever I was a little girl, but he didn't want me as much as I wanted him.
See you soon,
Andromeda
  Harry smiled and said to Teddy,
"Get ready to see your grandma, little mate."

  About an hour later, as promised, Harry stepped out of a fireplace and handed Teddy to a beaming Andromeda.
"Oh, nice color, Teddy," Andromeda said appreciatively, running a hand over the baby's hair. "I do like the greens, you know."
"It was a dark red this morning, actually. It changed earlier  whenever I showed him my patronus," Harry explained.
"Did he like it? Think it was neat?" Andromeda asked curiously. Harry nodded.
"He seemed to think it was cool," he shrugged.
"Really? Maybe I should show him mine," she said thoughtfully.
"What is your patronus?" Harry asked.
"It's a sparrow," she said delicately. "Would you like to see?"
"Sure," Harry said, hands in his pockets. Andromeda nodded, taking her wand from her robes. She seemed to be in deep concentration for a moment as she said,
"Expecto Patronum!" 
A small, twittering bird flew from her wand, flitting around the room in a silver blur. She directed it toward herself, holding out her hand, and the bird landed cheerfully in her palm. Teddy looked at it curiously, then reached for it. After he had patted it with a chubby little hand, Andromeda closed her fingers and the sparrow dissolved into the surrounding air.
"It's nice and strong," Harry complemented her.
"Thank you," she smiled weakly. "Whenever I went to school it was a rabbit, but when Dora went to school it changed to a sparrow. She was so good at flying a broom, you see, that I called her my little sparrow. It was the only thing she could do without knocking something over."
Harry returned her weak smile, and waved a goodbye as he stepped into the fireplace once more.
  
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