Darkness Shadows Light

Chapter Eleven - I See You\'ve Set Aside This Special Time To Humiliate Yourself In Public

Harry sank down into his seat, holding the copy of the Daily Prophet with a shaking hand; Ron sat down grimly next to him. How much did they know? Skimming through all the flowery prose and shocked indignation, Harry was at least semi-relieved that it stated Ron was the father. Then one detail caught his eye, that his \"distraught ex-girlfriend, Hermione Granger\" had agreed to be godmother to the baby. The only time that had been mentioned was by the lake Harry realised. He groaned and buried his head in his hands, obviously they hadn\'t been as alone as he had believed. He remembered how pleased with himself Malfoy had looked when he had entered the room; no doubt his peculiar behaviour this past month had not goneoticoticed and Malfoy had once again colluded with Rita Skeeter.

Unwilling to face the music, but having little choice, Harry slowly brought his head up from his hands. Most of his friends were looking at him with astonishment on their faces; Colin looked shattered. Suddenly his hero had fallen from the ridiculously high pedestal he had put him on. Harry got up his nerve to look at Ginny and saw she had stopped crying, but instead was staring at both him and Ron with a look of betrayal. He chanced a quick glance at the staff table, but the one figure he wanted to see, despite everything, was not there.

\'Is it true?\' Seamus asked bluntly, breaking the silence. Silently Harry nodded his head.

\'You and Ron...?\' words failed. The one thing the article had made a big deal of was Ron\'s declaration that he was not gay and would not be standing by Harry, though the wording of the piece made it sound as if Ron had seduced him before harshly dumping him. Harry guessed it would not bring Ron many friends, just like in the fourth year when Rita Skeeter had written so many horrible things about Hermione.

\'We did, but we both realised it was a mistake,\' said Harry quickly. \'We\'re not together and we don\'t want to be.\'

\'Mum\'s going to kill you,\' a small, broken voice said, aimed at Ron.

\'I\'m sorry Ginny,\' said Ron speaking for the first time, he looked extremely upset. \'We were going to tell you soon, honestly.\'

Ginny\'s face turned an angry red. She stood up.

\'You\'re my brother,\' she almost shouted. \'You should have told me first. I-I can\'t believe you\'d do this to me! You know how I felt...My own brother...\' With that she ran from the Great Hall, sobbing. Ron made to go after her, but Hermione stopped him.

\'I think it would be best if I speak to her first, explain things,\' she said apologetically, getting up and following the younger girl. Without Hermione\'s solid, sensible presence, both boys felt a little more vulnerable.

\'Is that the real reason you gave up Quidditch?\' asked Dean, who now played as the team\'s Keeper.

\'Yes,\' Harry replied. \'Madam Pomfrey insisted.\'

Suddenly Harry and Ron found themselves swamped with questions, ranging from when it was due, how it felt to what they planned to do when it was born. They fielded the questions as best they could, but it made Harry realise that he hadn\'t really thought that far ahead and had no idea what was going to happen beyond graduation. The baby wasn\'t even due until September. What would happen in the Summer holidays? Technically he would no longer be a student at Hogwarts, so would Dumbledore still be able to protect him?

Finally the questions were stopped abruptly by the approach of Professor McGonagall.

\'Isn\'t it about time you all got to class?\' she said pointedly. Harry went to get up with the rest of them, but she put a hand on his shoulder. \'Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you in his office,\' she said, tight-lipped.

Harry watched as his friends left and then followed Professor McGonagall in silence. She did not look happy and Harry thought she was probably quite annoyed that neither he nor Dumbledore had confided in her.

She left him at the gargoyle after giving it the password with an ominous \'We shall speak later, Mr Potter.\' That was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

He knocked and then entered Dumbledore\'s office, Harry couldn\'t help but think he looked about as happy as he had the last time Harry heen een to his office.

\'This is not good, Mr Potter.\' Dumbledore said in a grave voice. \'This should not have got out yet and it gives Voldemort far more time to make plans.\'

Harry nodded numbly, in the midst of being outed in public, he had almost forgotten the very real threat of Voldemort.

\'At least Severus was not implicated,\' Dumbledore continued. \'Do you have any idea how Rita Skeeter found out?\'

Quickly Harry explained that she was an unregistered animagus and he believed she had been listening in to his conversation.

\'Very interesting, I will have to look into that.\' Was Dumbledore\'s only comment.

\'So what happens now?\' Harry asked.

\'I\'m afraid you will be confined to school grounds, so no more trips to Hogsmeade. You will also be moved to a private room in Gryffindor Tower.\'

\'Why?\' asked Harry, surprised.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

\'I would have thought you would appreciate a little more privacy now that your condition is known. I imagine you do not wish to be stared at more than is necessary.\'

Harry blushed, wishing he hadn\'t asked. This wasn\'t the type of thing he found easy to talk about with anyone, let alone the headmaster.

\'What will happen after graduation?\' Harry anxiously asked the question that had been worrying him since he had thought of it. \'Will I have to leave Hogwarts?\'

\'No, certainly not,\' exclaimed Dumbledore. \'In fact I\'m afraid you\'re stuck here for the foreseeable future. I could not trust your safety anywhere else.\'

At this Harry was partly relieved, partly alarmed. Though he would be safe, all his friends would be going out in to the world, but he would be stuck here.

\'At least this way Severus will be able to see his child without arousing suspicion,\' the headmaster said, breaking into Harry\'s thoughts.

At the mention of his lover\'s (ex-lover\'s?) name, Harry could not stop the look of anguish that clouded his face.

\'Do I take that look to mean you and Severus are not getting on?\' the older wizard probed gently, his blue eyes looking serious.

\'We...we had a stupid argument yesterday and I think we split up,\' Harry admitted with difficulty.

\'Not the best timing,\' the headmaster commented.

Harry almost laughed, when exactly was it good timing to split up with the person you love?

\'I\'m sure you will work it out, I imagine if you think about what you argued about it would be most enlightening.\'

Harry looked at him, puzzled. How did Dumbledore know what they had argued about? It always worried him how much the wizard seemed to know.

Harry tried to stifle a yawn, the lack of sleep from the night before catching up with him.

\'I think it would be best if you did not go to lessons today,\' Dumbledore said firmly. \'It will give things a time to die down.\'

Harry nodded his agreement, quite happy to not have to face his classmates again so soon.

\'I believe Professor McGonagall would like a word. Go speak to her and then she can show you your new room.\'

Harry headed off to his head of house\'s office, thankful that everyone appeared to be in class. The talat hat he had dreaded with Professor McGonagall had not been as bad as he\'d expected. She had expressed her disappointment that he had not confided in her, but had also offered to be there if he needed someone to talk to. Harry was surprised to learn that she had two grown up children and several grandchildren.

Harry was alseasaeasantly surprised by his new room. It was in a corridor that he could swear had not been there before and it was nearly as big as his dormitory room. It also had its own bathroom and a peaceful view of the lake. It was, of course, decorated in Gryffindor colours and contained a large four poster and a desk to study at. As expected, the elves had already transferred all his belongings and after a perfunctionary check that they had not forgotten anything, Harry sank onto the soft bed and fell into the deep sleepthe the truly exhausted.

Harry woke up around lunchtime feeling a bit more cheerful, especially when he discovered lunch had appeared on the desk and after lunch he even decided to do some of his homework.

Several hours later there was a knock on his door.

\'Come in,\' he called, and was not surprised to see Hermione and Ron. Ron looked exhausted and Harry guiltily realised that he must have bared the brunt of most of the questions and taunts. Plus Harry had kept him awake most of the night. Acting on impulse, Harry got up and hugged his best friend. \'I\'m sorry,\' he whispered in his ear. When Harry let go of Ron he caught a strange expression on Hermione\'s face that he couldn\'t interpret.

\'So what do you think of my room?\' Harry asked, trying to lighten the mood.
\'I think that you\'re a lucky sod!\' exclaimed Ron enviously. \' I can\'t believe Dumbledore gave you your own room.\'

\'He thought it would be best,\' Harry said.

They continued talking for quite a while, Hermione had also brought him all his homework and her notes to copy which she insisted on explaining to him. Some time later Hermione left saying she had to go and find Ginny, who was still not speaking to Ron.

About ten minutes after Hermione had gone, they suddenly heard a scrabbling at the door. Puzzled, Harry went over and opened it to reveal a large black dog.

\'Snuffles!\' cried Harry joyfully, thrilled to see his godfather after such a long time. Quickly Harry closed the door and set a locking and silencing charm (he was not going to be caught out again!). When he turned around, Sirius had already transformed, but instead of greeting his godson he was staring at Ron with a deadly look.

\'Ronald Weasley,\' he growled. \'I should have killed you in the Shrieking Shack when I had the chance!\'

Ron shrank back as Sirius advanced menacingly towards him...