Heritage

Chapter 12

“I need to know everything you know about my family. There has to be a reason as to why all this is happening to me.”

“What is this all about, Harry? Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?”

“It’s always been important to me! But no one will tell me! I had to nearly get killed at the ministry and find that bleeding prophecy ball just to get what little information I have about myself out of you people and it took five years to get that much.” He shouted angrily.


“Now all these weird things are happening to me and I want to know why. Hermione has a theory and it sounds crazy, but I’m so strong all of a sudden and I’m moving so fast and the dreams…”

“Dreams? Have your nightmares gotten worse?”

“No. Those are the same as always. These are just strange dreams, very strange. I’m in this forest. I’ve never been there before, and yet I know it. I remember it somehow and there is this singing. Like it’s coming from the forest itself…”

“Harry, I’m sure this is just a phase you a going through.”

“Remus, this is not a phase!”

“Madam Pomphery examined you thoroughly. She said you were perfectly fine.”

Harry pounded his fist on his chair. “Madam Pomphery was wrong!” Harry took out his hand and pointed it to his head. “Finite Incantatum” He pulled back his hair to reveal his once again pointed ears.

“My God” Remus got up and walked to Harry. Taking hold of Harry’s jaw, he tilted his head to the side. Remus’ mouth hung open as he stared at Harry’s ears. Even Dumbledore looked a bit shocked and that was saying something.

Harry sat back in his chair, enduring their scrutiny. The silence made his stomach writhe worse than the gillyweed in fourth year. “Hermione thinks I’m turning into some sort of Quendi elf…and I think she might be right.”

“Harry…” Remus sighed. “I think an explanation is long overdu

“An explanation! Sweet Merlin, Remus!” Harry leapt from his chair and stalked over to Dumbledore’s desk, slamming his palms down.

“You mean you knew!? You knew this would happen and you didn’t tell me!?\"

“No. I didn’t know.”

“But you said…”

“Harry, I don’t know how or why this is happening to you. I doubt anyone would, despite your family’s history.”

“What do you mean?” Harry sat back down in is chair, anger and confusion stamped heavily on his features.

Dumbledore sighed wearily. “Do you remember our conversation after you returned from the Chamber of Secrets? You thought that you belonged in Slytherin. Do you remember what I told you?”

“Yes, you told me it was our choices not our abilities that show who we are.”

“No Harry, after that.” Harry looked puzzled.

“I told you that only a TRUE Gryffindor could have pulled the sword from the hat. And one did. Your father was a Gryffindor.”

“Yes, I know. He was even a Seeker too, like me.”

“No, Harry. That’s not what I mean . . .” Dumbledore adjusted his half-moon spectacles. “The name of your great-grandfather’s great-grandfather was William Gryffindor.”

A dawning of shock crept onto Harry’s face. He looked to Remus, who grinned and nodded his head. “I’m…I’m a…”

“Descendant of Godric Gryffindor himself.” Dumbledore nodded softly once.

“Why…” Harry shook his head in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me this last year when you told me about the prophecy?”

“As I told you last year, I thought you had enough to deal with. Sirius had just been killed. You had just found out about your destiny. I didn’t know if you could take yet another heavy blow so soon. We felt that it would be too much all at once. Remus and I decided to wait a bit before dropping another weight on your shoulders. We wanted to protect you.”


“By lying to me?” he shouted.

“We never told you because we felt that you had enough to deal with. You didn’t need another burden to bear, especially so young.”

“You should have told me!” Harry growled.

“Harry,” Dumbledore stared intently at him. “Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you could have handled this knowledge? That on top of everything else you had been through that day, you could’ve accepted this?”


Harry swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “No.” Harry looked down. “No, I don’t think so.” He turned back to Dumbledore. “What does my being a descendof Gof Godric Gryffindor have to do with what’s happening to me?”


“I have no idea what is happening to you, Harry. All I know for certain is that your ancestor, Godric Gryffindor, carom rom an ancient line of magic dating back thousands of years. So ancient that it predates human civilization. Godric’s line was older than Salazar’s and had an enormous power.”


“No one knew where it came from, but Salazar knew that because of it Godric was the one wizard that could challenge him. Alone, Godric’s powers were far greater than Salazar’s, but together, the other founders outnumbered him. And if that happened, Salazar knew he would be defeated.”

“Harry,” Remus began, “Gryffindors were the most powerful witches and wizards in the world. Voldemort knew, as Salazar Slytherin did, that any descendant of Godric Gryffindor would be a threat to him. That is why he had all the Potters killed. That is why he killed your parents. And that is why he keeps trying to kill you.”


Remus walked over to Harry and sat in the chair across from him. “There were only two children that fit the description of the prophecy; Neville Longbottom, son of two aurors and Harry Potter, descendant of Godric Gryffindor. With a choice like that it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure out whom the prophecy was written about. As a descendant of Godric Gryffindor, you alone have the power to vanquish him. And Voldemort knows that.”


“Who else knows about all this?” he asked, a little hoarsely because somethieemeeemed to be stuck in his throat.

“The truth of the Gryffindor lineage fell out of public knowledge centuries ago. Only the Potters and I knew the secret. And Voldemort of course, he must have investigated the Gryffindor lineage after hearing the prophecy, I expect.”

Harry swallowed hard and turned to Dumbledore who watched him carefully. He turned back to Remus to see the same guarded inquisitive look on his face.

“Harry?” Remus went to touch him, but Harry pulled away.

“Alright.” He got up. “This is too much for me to handle. Far too much.” He walked away from him, and leaned either hand on opposite sides of the window. Remus followed.

“Nobody can blame you for being angry, Harry.” Harry looked hard at him. \"You have every right to be upset. I’d be worried if you weren’t angry.\"

“Angry?” Harry whipped around fiercely. “I\'m not angry, Remus. I am brassed off! This…this is just insane! You can’t just drag me in here after all these years and say ‘Oh I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you, you’re a bloody descendant of Godric Gryffindor’,” he said sarcastically.


Dumbledore had the good grace to look chagrined. “I know it\'s a lot, Harry. Far more than anyone should ever have to deal with, especially at your age, but you must deal with it. This is who you are.”


Slowly, Harry got up and lehe ohe office.

“Harry…” Remus got up quickly and made to follow him, when he felt Dumbledore’s hand on his arm.

“Let him go. He needs time to sort through this on his own.\"

“We can\'t let him run off. We need to talk to him.”

“True, but we cannot MAKE him be alright with this, Remus. We must give him some time to work through this.”

“That\'s your solution!? Just leave him alone and hope that everything works itself out?”

“No,” Dumbledore shook his head, his pointed cap bobbing. “however if I were in Harry’s place, I would want a little bit of time to myself right now, to think.\"

“I wouldn\'t want people hovering over me. Especially considering that we cannot give him answers as to why his body seems to be mutating.”

“Albus! How can you talk about Harry like that?” Remus stared at Dumbledore, shocked.

“All I’m saying is that Harry probably feels like he doesn’t know who he is anymore or even what he is.” Dumbledore sighed heavily, suddenly feeling every one of his many years. “Harry needed to know where he comes from. He needs to know why this is happening to him.” Dumbledore walked around to his chair and sat down. “But above all, Harry needs real answers.”

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