Harry Potter and The Soul Guide

Chapter-7

The next day Harry spent most of his time in his room packing. It was a long and exhausting task, but it had to be done. It was around two o’clock when Remus came into his room.

“Harry,” he said as he closed the door behind him. “I was hoping I could have a word with you.”

“Alright,” Harry replied while continuing to pack.

“Well, Harry, after Sirius died, I had a responsibility that I did not live up to. You see, in his will he granted me your guardian.

Harry looked up at him, wondering why on earth he was bringing this up not, but after a minute, he continued packing.

“I know it’s too late, but I want you to know you can always talk to me, not matter what,” Remus told him.

“Thank you, Remus,” Harry replied, folding and placing clothes into his trunk.

“Anytime, Harry, anytime,” Remus replied, but then got a questionable look on his face and asked, “Why are you packing?”

“Oh, just packing,” Harry answered.

“But why, you have another month until school starts again.”

“Er…,” was all Harry could say. He didn’t know whether he should tell Remus or not. Remus was, after all, a Marauder, but he was also an Order member, who would tell everybody if he knew.

“What?” Remus asked again. “Harry I told you, you can tell me anything.”

After a moment of arguing with himself, he finally made a decision. “Alright, I don’t intend on going back to school.”

“You… what?” Remus asked after a minute.

“I’ve decided to quit school and go out hunting Voldemort instead,” Harry said, continuing to pack.

“Harry, no,” Remus said. “No, Harry, you’re going back to school so you can be an Auror. Then you can go out and hunt him down.” He sounded as if he was explaining something simple to someone dense.

“No, Remus,” Harry replied. “This is something I have to do, that I was told to do.”

“By who?”

“Dumbledore,” was all Harry said, still packing his trunk.

“Harry, Dumbledore wanted you to return to the school. He wanted you to finish. Why else would we keep the school open.”

Harry froze. They kept the school open for him? Why just for him? He would understand if they wanted to keep it open for one more year, so people could get things straight, but they kept it over so he could finish his schooling. After a moment of thinking he continued packing, and said, “I understand everybody wants me to finish school, but nobody understands what I’m going out to do.”

“Then why don’t you tell me?” Remus asked.

“I can’t do that,” Harry responded. “But it is something that I have to do, and if I don’t, no one else will.”

“Harry, you just have to finish school.”

“Somehow,” Harry started, “I knew you wouldn’t understand, and I shouldn’t have said anything. Now you’re just going to make it difficult aren’t you?”

“Harry trust me, Dumbledore would have wanted you to finish school, as would Sirius and your parents.”

“It doesn’t matter what they would’ve wanted,” he replied. “This is something that I have no choice in. It’s destiny, Remus.”

“Don’t you even care about the wishes your parents had for you?”

“What wishes?” he asked. “For me to grow up, loved and not alone. For me to go to school and become something that makes me happy?”

“Well… yes,” Remus said, sadness creeping up into his voice.

“Ha, that’s almost laughable now,” Harry said, beginning to get angry. “From age one to age eleven I was tortured by people who were, shockingly, my own family. After I went to Hogwarts, I started to learn was being loved was, but although I was loved, I was still horribly alone. Now for the first time, I am doing something that is going to make me happy.”

“Oh, and what is that?”

“I’m going to kill the person that took away the dreams that were laid out for me from the moment I was born. That will make me happier than I’ve ever been before.”

“Harry, I don’t want you to go,” Remus said, the sadness still held in his tone.

“It doesn’t matter, you don’t know the whole situation.”

Suddenly, Remus walked over and closed Harry’s trunk. When Harry looked up, he saw that Remus’ teeth were clenched like the wolf that he sometimes was.

“You are to finish school,” he said, all sadness replaced by anger. “You are to do what your parents wanted you to do. You are to graduate, and become an Auror, even if I have to lock you in here until school starts.”

“Remus, I am of age now, you cannot control me,” Harry said, anger growing in his own voice.

“I don’t care if you’re of age, I don’t care if what you’re doing you think is right, I don’t care. You are being ridiculous, and I WILL NOT HAVE IT!”

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M GOING TO DO!” Harry yelled, furious that people were still trying to control him.

“HARRY IT WAS YOUR PARENTS DREAM, IT’S WHAT THEY WANTED MORE THAN ANYTHING!”

“TOO BAD THEY CAN’T SEE ME NOW, HUH? GOING OUT AND RISKING MY LIFE TO AVENGE ALL THE PEOPLE THAT THAT MONSTER KILLED!”

“You are being completely irrational, Harry,” Remus said, finally gaining control of himself. “Harry, it was your own wish to be an Auror, don’t you remember? What happened to that?”

“That died with Dumbledore,” Harry replied, trying to calm himself down.

Remus seemed so stunned that he just stood there, staring at Harry. Finally, after what felt like an hour, he spoke.

“What about Ginny?” Remus asked. “What are you going to do about her?”

He’d touched a nerve. This was something Harry hated thinking about, something he was not looking forward to doing, but they’d talked, and everything was fine with her.

“It is none of your business about how I handle Ginny,” Harry replied through clenched teeth. “Besides, we’ve discussed this.”

“She’s just letting you go?” Remus asked, shock written in every line of his face.

“It’s not a matter of her letting me go,” Harry replied.

“Don’t you love her Harry?”

This caught Harry by surprise. He didn’t know how to answer that. So… he lied.

“No,” he replied, trying to hide the pain it caused him to say that.

“Liar,” Remus exclaimed. Then, as he turned to leave, he stopped and said, “You know, James would’ve never left Lily,” then he added, “And you will go to school, even if I have to make you.” With that he stepped out and slammed the door behind him.