Chapter 201
"I'll talk with her." Bill promised. He paused and sighed. "Well, I'll get Dadtotalk with her." He gave a small smile. "She has been better about Sirius sinceHarry's birthday." Ron nodded at that because she had. Poor Harry, Ron thought, couldn't evenhave his birthday without getting a death threat.
"Right, so materially you'll be fine by September. And I do know howyoufeel, Ron. Once Mum had Percy, I ended up with second-hand robes and booksjust
as much as the rest of you because money was tight. And while I will say that
Dad's view that we're rich in love and money shouldn't matter is a nice one, I
understand that in reality when you're at school and standing next to your
peers, it does help your confidence and your ego to feel on you're on an equal
Quidditch pitch. So I'll sort it for you either way. Agreed?" Bill said briskly.
"Agreed." Ron said a little apprehensively because he trusted Bill but their
Mum was a force of nature and he couldn't see her changing her mind. But hewas also a little more hopeful.
"Now, status and position." Bill sighed. "Well, you know that stuff's never beenimportant to us. Dad's always said that what's important is that you're a goodperson and you live your life decently and honourably."
"I know." Ron said quietly, a little ashamed that status and position did matter
to him.
"But the truth is that while neither Dad nor I really took any of the Ancient andNoble House stuff seriously, the last month has brought home to us that it isimportant." Bill concluded. Ron looked up at him in surprise. Bill nodded gravely. "We're an Ancient and Noble House. We should have aseat in the Wizengamot and we should be helping to decide our society's
future. But we don't because Great-Granddad gambled away the seat andthebulk of the fortune, and Gramps rebelled against the establishment in
response, and Dad is a good man but who has never been all that ambitiousfor himself." He gestured at Ron. "You've done more to help rebuild our statusthan either Dad or I."
"Me?" blurted Ron, shocked.
"You made friends with Harry. He approached us for an alliance of friendship." Bill stated. "That's because of you." He prodded Ron gently on a patch of
unmarred skin. "Dad and I are doing our bit now but everyone in the family hasa part to play in helping us rebuild our status including you."
"Me?" blurted Ron again.
"Yes," Bill said, "you remain a genuine friend to Harry – that's why he askedusinto the alliance in the first place. Second, you get your head down, stopbeinga lazy prat and put some effort into your school work." His gaze drifted
purposefully to the desk by the window which held Ron's untouched and
uncompleted homework. "Sirius isn't going to stand for Harry having less thangood grades. You need to keep up if you want to fit in and I knowyou're not
stupid. You picked up learning your alphabet and numbers pretty quick." Ron flushed but nodded.
"Third, if you're serious about your Quidditch career which I think is a great
goal, then it would probably benefit you to go along to Harry's lessons onetiquette and politics. You'll need to learn how to interact with people onasocial basis and influence them as a manager. That's essentially what Harryislearning." Bill concluded.
"Do you think he'll still let me come along?" Ron asked.
"I'll ask Sirius and Harry tomorrow but I don't think it'll be an issue." Bill said.
"What about Mum? She complained that Harry shouldn't have the lessonssoI
doubt she'll let me go to them." Ron pointed out.
"I'll talk with Mum." Bill promised before waving his hand. "Well, I'll get Dadtotalk with Mum." He patted Ron's bad leg and Ron winced. "Sorry. OK witheverything now?" Ron nodded slowly. "Bill, is Harry OK? It's just…I know there's somethingmoregoing on. There was that death threat and he was really upset a fewweeksback when he and Sirius went to visit the Ministry but he said he couldn't talk
about it and…"
"He's OK." Bill assured him. "He's dealing with a lot of change and –do youreally think Sirius isn't going to give him the best protection he can?" Ron shook his head. "I'm happy for him, you know, about Sirius. You cantell
he really cares about Harry not like the muggles." Bill ruffled his hair and stood up. He picked up a pain potion and gave it toRon. "Come on. Take that potion, visit the loo and hop into bed." Ron pulled a face but he followed instructions. Bill left himtucked up in bedbut Ron wasn't all that sleepy. He heard a hoot and a tap on his windowandhurried over to let Hedwig in.
"Hey there." Ron said stroking her head. She offered him her leg. Ron tooktheletter eagerly.
"Ron, Heard what happened!
Sirius said your Dad told him you'd saved Ginny! Go you!
Hope you're OK though and didn't hurt yourself too badly. It's a shame you'regrounded (I told Hedwig to deliver the letter directly to you late on when
hopefully your parents aren't watching) – Hermione says you should takeadvantage and do your homework. Write soon and tell me all about it (the fall not your homework), Harry." Ron gave a chuckle. He scrawled a brief note; just enough to give Harry thehighlights with a promise to tell him more the next time they saweach other. Hedwig took flight and Ron closed the window, slipping back to his bed. He was almost asleep when he heard the vague sound of his door beingopened and footsteps padding up to his bed. A hand swept through his hair
and he mumbled indistinctly, caught on the edge of sleep.
"We could have lost him, Arthur." His Mum sounded like she was crying.
"He's safe and thanks to him, so's Ginny." His Dad's calm tone soothed Ronback towards the pull of sleep. "Come on Molly-wobbles." Ron felt the press of lips against his forehead and it jolted himback into
semi-awareness. "Mum?"
"Shush now," his Mum said, "go to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."
"OK," mumbled Ron and leaning into the warm touch of his mother's handonhis hurt shoulder, he fell asleep. o-O-o
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 202
The stone on the desk looked innocuous enough, Sirius thought. Dark andoval shaped, it didn't look anything special. He looked across the desk at Dumbledore who stared at the stone with somuch longing that it gave Sirius the creeps. His gaze quickly resettled onBertie to his right who wore a grim expression.
"You're telling me this is the Resurrection Stone out of some old children'staleof the Hallows?" Sirius said sceptically.
"The Hallows are very real." Dumbledore said, lifting his gaze fromthe stonefor the first time since they'd entered Bertie's office. The small cramped space didn't scream 'office of the Head of the DOM,' instead it seemed more suited for a researcher who preferred books topeople. Every inch of wall space was covered in bookshelves stacked high and deep
with books and journals. The desk was small with hardly any wood showingunder the mountain of parchment and more books; two plain chairs took upthe available floor space in front, a comfortable worn leather office chair tookup the space behind. It suited Bertie. Bertie sighed heavily and nodded in agreement with Dumbledore. "The storyof
the Peverells is quite based in truth, Sirius." He sank down into his chair, looking old. "You know it?"
"It was Regulus's favourite story. He wanted another brother so we'd makethree. Mother laughed at him." Sirius said in a clipped tone. He had readthestory for nights on end to his little brother and they had played at being thebrothers or Sirius had played at being Death and Regulus had played at beingthe hero Ignotus who managed to hide from him.
"Three brothers came to surging river created by Death as a trap for the
unwary traveller. They worked together and used their magic to build a bridgeto cross it." Bertie began the tale anyway. "Death appeared and congratulatedthem, offering them each a gift for their ingenuity but wanting in truth totrapthem into giving up the lives he felt they had cheated him out of collecting."
"The eldest brother Antioch asked for a powerful wand," Dumbledore chimedin, "so Death went to an Elder tree and snapped off a branch fashioning it intoa wand. He gave this wand to Antioch and Antioch went on his way."
"The second brother Cadmus had just lost his sweetheart to a plague andasked for a way to return the dead to life. Death picked a stone fromthe river
bank and made it into a portal allowing the owner to bring back the shadesof
those who had died." Bertie recited.
"And the younger brother, Ignotus, asked to be allowed to leave without Deathfollowing him." Sirius said, impatiently. "Death gave him his own cloak of
invisibility. Antioch was arrogant, boasted about his wand and immediately
got killed by a thief who stole it from him; Cadmus brought his sweetheart tolife again only not, realised the difference and committed suicide; Ignotushidfrom Death under his cloak and lived a long life until he willingly went toDeath." He pointed at the stone. "You really think this is the Stone."
"See this etching." Bertie pointed with his wand at the strange marking ontheStone. "It is the mark of a Hallow." He gestured tiredly. "Regardless of thestory, it is likely that the Peverells were powerful wizards capable of creatingwonderful artefacts; the artefacts themselves are real even if the story of
Death gifting them to the brothers is a child's tale."
"OK." Sirius rubbed his forehead tiredly. "So it's a Hallow. It can call the deadback…" he blanched as he suddenly realised; James, Lily, Regulus even –all
could be called back by the small innocuous stone on the desk.
"And there you see why it is such a temptation." Dumbledore said gravely. "Who would not wish for a moment to talk once again with a loved one? Tospend time in their presence and ask for forgiveness…" Sirius glanced over at Dumbledore whose gaze was once again affixed tothestone. Sirius shared a concerned look with Bertie.
"Clearly, Lawrence realised the stone was the Hallow." Bertie sighed heavily. "I
should have spoken with him more when he said he needed more time to
work out how to separate the stone from the ring setting."
"How is he?" asked Sirius.
"We amputated his wand arm." Bertie said succinctly. "Unfortunately, the
curse is such that cutting away the dead flesh is irrelevant. He will die withinamatter of weeks."
"We may be able to prolong that," Dumbledore said dragging his eyes away
from the stone, "I will speak to Severus. There may be potions…"
"I'm not sure prolonging his life would be a gift." Bertie snapped. Dumbledore blinked at Bertie. "We should offer Lawrence the choice, surely?" Bertie nodded grimly.
"It wasn't your fault, Bertie." Sirius said firmly. "He knew the curse was onthering and he put it on anyway."
"I'm afraid I could have fallen into the same trap as poor Lawrence. I feel
blessed that until today I haven't had time to see the ring for myself." Dumbledore confessed as he transfigured one of the chairs into a chintzy
armchair and sat down.
Sirius suspected Lawrence had known Dumbledore would knowwhat thestone was and that had spurred his hasty action. "I suspect he wished tobringhis daughter back."
"It's a very dangerous artefact." Bertie agreed, leaning back. "At least that
damnable ring has been destroyed." Sirius nodded. He'd watched it melt and be eaten away in the furnace. Therewere two possible horcruxes left: one at Hogwarts and one potentially at
Godric's Hollow. "Do Bill and Caro know what's happened?" Bertie shook his head. "They're still at Godric's Hollow trying to make the
house stable enough to enter. There's a great deal of dark magic seepedintothe building. They have to cleanse it before they can deal with the structural
issues. And they have to do all of it working under an illusion to ensure thetourists that stop by don't realise what's happening."
"Bloody ghouls." Sirius growled. He'd been angered by the report that therewas evidently a tourist trip based around Godric's Hollow and the Potters' oldcottage. He was going to sue someone as soon as Brian tracked down whowas behind the business.
"I'll inform them about Lawrence when they report in this evening." Bertiesighed.
Losing a team member was always hard, Sirius mused, but Lawrence hadknown the dangers and ignored them despite having resisted temptationfor
the fortnight that had passed since they'd discovered the ring.
It had been a strange couple of weeks since the death threat at Harry's
birthday party, filled with the Wizengamot session – he felt a knot of guilt
again at how he hadn't realised how nervous Harry had been about the wholeaffair but Harry had been fantastic – and more dinners and meetings thanhecould shake a stick at. Ron Weasley's flying escapade with his sister had resulted in himjoiningHarryfor etiquette and political lessons which pleased Harry no end and Sirius
couldn't help but be impressed at Bill who'd sold the whole thing to his
parents as punishment for Ron's transgression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 203
"So we're left with the question of what to do with the Hallow." Bertie said, pulling Sirius back to the present. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd want to lock it up in some musty
storeroom here for further study."
"Yes, well," Bertie shifted uncomfortably, "we can only do that if we're certainthe artefact isn't a family heirloom."
"Can't it be confiscated from Riddle?" Sirius demanded, confused. "I mean, we're surely not going to give him the means of bringing back the dead evenif
they're just shades."
"Oh, I don't mean Riddle!" Bertie said emphatically. "I don't think the Gauntsgenealogically are directly related to the Peverells. Cadmus was said tohavetossed the stone and himself into the river to drown. No, more likely that
some other ancestor of theirs happened across the stone and set it intothering without knowing what it was. I don't believe Riddle knew otherwise henodoubt would have tried to access its power."
"But there is one living descendent of the Peverells who has a claimon thestone." Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling with that annoying 'I knowsomething you don't' twinkle that Sirius hated.
"Who?" asked Sirius outright, refusing to dance around and make wild
guesses for the next hour. Bertie cleared his throat. "Well, the line of Ignotus Peverell eventually renameditself from Peverell to…"
"Potter." Dumbledore supplied with a warm smile.
"Harry." Sirius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He should haveknown.
"Have you never wondered about that wonderful cloak of invisibility, Sirius?" Dumbledore chided gently. "It is the Potter family heirloomand yet its charmsremain strong and vibrant despite centuries of wear."
"So, Harry's cloak is the cloak?" Sirius sputtered. He'd used the cloak many
times as a Marauder. Dear Merlin! "Death's cloak?"
"Well, probably in reality the first true invisibility cloak invented by Peverell
himself." Bertie said cheering up a little. "I was aware the Potters' had it but
Charlus refused to give it to me for study." Sirius frowned and sat down abruptly. "That's the stone; Harry has the cloak;
so where's the wand?"
"Ah, well that's the question isn't it?" Bertie asked. "There is a marvellous
theory that if all three are owned by the same person then he or she becomesthe Master of Death. Unfortunately the wand has a rather tricky history andwas last known to be held by…"
"Alas, it was lost." Dumbledore cut in. Sirius's eyes narrowed on the old wizard. Bertie subsided. "Perhaps it is better to consider it lost, yes; a very goodpoint." He sighed. "Anyway, my previous point such as it was is that the stoneand the rest of the Hallows," he glanced at Albus, "if they belong to anyone, they belong to Harry."
Sirius sighed. "I will talk to Harry but my recommendation to himwill be tolock the thing away in the family vault." They all looked pensively at the stone.
"Did Lawrence see his daughter?" Dumbledore asked eventually. Bertie shook his head. "The curse struck before he could complete turningthestone." Dumbledore's eyes drifted back to the artefact but he nodded slowly. "Perhaps it was for the best." Bertie picked up his wand and levitated the stone into a box. "I will lock it uphere in the meantime, Sirius." He confirmed. "Let me know once you've
spoken with Harry."
"Will do." Sirius got to his feet. "Please give my best to Lawrence and his
family."
"And mine." Dumbledore said rising, the chair configuring back to its usual
state. "I must get back to Hogwarts and make arrangements for your visit tothe Chamber next week."
Sirius walked out with him. "Are you back in the country for good now?"
"I am." Dumbledore confirmed. "The last details of the Tri-Wizard Tournament
have been finalised and my Summer is once again my own. It is a shamethat
Bartemius remains so ill." He placed a hand on Dumbledore's arm before they exited the Ministry. Heushered Dumbledore into an alcove and raised a privacy bubble. "Albus, thisstone seems to…you seem unusually interested." Dumbledore sighed heavily and his eyes grew dim. "In my youth, I fell in loveand my partner and I dreamed of uniting the Hallows; so many grand plansweweaved. My brother objected fiercely to my leaving home and a fight brokeout amongst us. My sister Ariana was caught in the crossfire. We never knewwhich spell was the one to…" Sirius felt his heart squeeze tight in sympathy.
"I became penitent and sought to never again give into the temptation of
power. But even today…to talk with Ariana one more time…" Dumbledore
sniffed and blinked back tears. "You are quite right, Sirius. I will leave the
stone in Bertie's capable hands and think no more on it. I once told Harry that
it does no good to dwell on dreams; I should take my own advice." He left, taking the privacy bubble down and leaving Sirius feeling like he'dkicked a puppy. Sirius made his way to Black Manor but immediately left
again for Griffin House.
Remus and Harry were in the sun room and Sirius brought themup to speedas Dobby brought them glasses of lemonade and chocolate biscuits.
"Poor Lawrence." Harry said, compassionately. "Does he have family or…"
"A sister." Remus answered. "His wife died a few years ago and his
daughter…she died during the last war at the hands of Greyback, the werewolf
who bit me." Harry folded his arms and frowned. "Why haven't I heard this story of the
brothers before?"
"It's a wizarding story in a popular book called 'Tales of Beedle the Bard,' Harry." Remus explained. "Most wizarding children learn to read with that
book. I certainly did."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 204
"You did have a copy in your nursery," Sirius said thoughtfully, "if Bill andCaroever make it actually into the house at Godric's Hollow they may find it. I'msure James gave you the Potter copy passed down through the generations."
"But once I was living with the Dursleys there was no way they'd ever allowmeto have a wizarding book or hear any wizarding tales." Harry nodded. "I'm
really related to this Ignotus Peverell?"
"So it seems." Sirius said.
"I'll check." Remus offered. "But if both Bertie and Albus agreed that youarehis descendant…"
"It's probable that I am." Harry said with a sigh. "I'm not having my cloak
locked up."
"Nobody's suggesting that." Remus soothed him while sending Sirius a
questioning look that clearly said 'are you?'
"Remus is right," Sirius quickly confirmed, "your cloak is your cloak but as your
parent and an ex-Marauder I wish you'd use the thing for pranks rather thangetting into dangerous situations." Harry grinned at him. "You're so cool." Sirius happily hammed it up and preened. "Thank you." Remus laughed at his antics. "Only you, Padfoot."
Harry's amusement faded. "But you think the stone should be locked up?"
"The stone is…" Sirius made a half-hearted gesture and his hand fell to thetable, "…a temptation to drive yourself mad."
"Like Cadmus the original brother who owned it." Remus said. "He wantedtobring his love back but Death tricked him. The stone brought back her shadebut not her body. He couldn't kiss her or make love with her…" Sirius almost snickered at the bright red colour on Harry's cheeks. There wasa plan to give Harry and Neville the Talk in motion. They'd certainly do it
before the boys went back to Hogwarts.
"…so eventually he realised he didn't have her back at all. She was still deadand he was still alive and never shall the twain meet for good reason." Remusfinished. Harry thought about Remus's words so hard Sirius could almost see themturning over in his head. "It must be like the Mirror of Erised."
"Hmmm?" Sirius murmured confused.
"The Mirror which the Headmaster used to hide the Philosopher's stone in
showed you your heart's desire," explained Harry, "I found it at the Christmasbreak in my first year and…and it showed me Mum and Dad. We were together
as a family and happy." Sirius reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I kept going back to look at them." Harry confessed sheepishly. "Just tolookbecause I'd never seen them before and…it was before Hagrid gave me thealbum."
"What happened?" inquired Remus gently.
"The Headmaster caught me." Harry admitted. "He told me it didn't do todwell
on dreams. I guess he wanted me to focus on the present and not the past. I
suppose he was right, I mean I would have stayed with the Mirror all the timeif I could back then." Sirius squeezed his shoulder.
"And…and I guess this stone is like that." Harry said, tracing a pattern onthetable top idly. "If I…if I brought Mum and Dad back just to talk with themonce…" he paused and ducked his head, "I don't think I could give themupagain." He admitted in a pained voice.
"Me either." Sirius admitted roughly.
Remus sighed. "Me either." They sat in silence for a long moment, all once again mourning James andLily. Sirius cleared his throat. "The stone stays locked up, then?" Harry nodded jerkily. "I think I'll go up to my room and read a bit." Or go up to his room and mope a bit, Sirius corrected in his head, not that hecould blame Harry; he was probably going to do the same when he went uptobed. He let go of Harry's shoulder and watched as Harry wandered back intothehouse. "Poor kid. If it's not one thing, it's another."
"You didn't have to tell him." The rebuke was mild but it was there and Sirius glowered at Remus. "Thisfrom the man who encouraged me to risk him in getting the stone in the first
place!? I won't keep secrets from him. He needs to know he's trusted toknowthese things and to make his own decisions."
"I don't disagree entirely," Remus began, "but sometimes I think you
overestimate how much he can handle. He is only fourteen!"
"Don't you think I debate every decision I make about Harry a hundred timesor
more?" demanded Sirius hotly, knowing Remus had been as horrified as hehad been when Dobby had let slip that Harry had thrown up the morningof theWizengamot session.
"I know," Remus held up a hand placating Sirius, "I'm sorry. I don't mean toturninto Molly, it's just…" he hunched his shoulders as he crossed his arms tightlyaround himself, "sometimes I think your original idea of wrapping himincotton wool and hiding him somewhere safe was the one to go with."
"Me too." Sirius said in a heartfelt way that made Remus snort. "Healer Allensays he's doing better." Seeing a mind healer to help cope with the impact of the prophecy had beenavery good idea. Jasper Allen was a former protégé of Noshi's and he was anexcellent choice. He met with Harry and Sirius once a week and had helpedthem deal with some of the immediate fears: for Harry that he had to becomea murderer and Sirius's that he would lose Harry and wouldn't be able toprotect him.
"Harry's enjoying his art therapy." Remus said. "Some of his drawings areverygood."
Sirius picked up his lemonade and took a swallow, wandlessly switchingsome of Remus's lemonade for the contents of a vial of potion secretedinhisrobes; Remus deserved it for giving him a hard time. "Do you think the Master
of Death thing could be Harry's power, you know, the one the Dark Lord knowsnot?"
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Remus paused, his own glass almost to his lips. He set it down again whileheconsidered the question. "It's a bit convenient, isn't it?"
"It's power." Sirius commented.
"Let's pretend for a moment that it's true," Remus said, "we would need tofindthe Elder wand to complete the set…"
"I think Albus knows where it is." Sirius said. "Bertie has an idea. I'msure it
couldn't be that hard to track down."
"Yes," Remus said dryly, "because the Elder wand, the most powerful wandinthe world which has been lost for ages, would be really easy to find if only weput our minds to it."
"Well, when you put it like that." Sirius complained.
"No, no," Remus said, "let's not throw realism over your enthusiasm, let's saywe find it and Harry unites all three Hallows…what's the power?"
Sirius looked at him blankly.
"He has a cloak of invisibility," Remus listed, "which is good for hiding andthat's great but he has that already. He gets a stone to bring back the deadbut for what purpose? To answer questions or help him? Well, he already hasthe living for that and any other use of the stone will drive himmad. He getsapowerful wand but he's a fourteen year old wizard who, despite being anexcellent duellist for his age, would struggle against Voldemort with his yearsof experience and vast range of dark spells. If Voldemort won a duel, he'dwinthe wand's loyalty and then where would we be? Nowhere, that's where."
"You're rambling." Sirius pointed out. "OK, look," he waved his hands to stopRemus talking, "I admit that individually each item has its uses and its
disadvantages and possibly it makes no sense but if there is more to beingthe Master of Death, if it comes with some kind of other power…to, I don't
know, call Death himself or take a life without using an Unforgiveable or
blowing the bastard up…maybe it would be 'the power he knows not.'" Remus looked at him with raised eyebrows. "I think you're nuts, Padfoot," hesaid finally, "but I'll investigate the wand."
"Thank you." Sirius said feeling a little vindicated. His friend raised his lemonade in a silent toast, placed the glass against hislips and lowered it again abruptly.
"What?" asked Sirius. Remus couldn't be suspicious about the lemonade, could he? Sirius hadn't spiked any drinks for at least two weeks with prankingpotion.
"Just…" Remus's face screwed up in thought for a second, "one of the originstories for the family magic we found last week suggested that Merlin
avoided one of Death's traps and when Death asked him what he wishedfor
Merlin said that he wouldn't ask for anything in life but he would ask for
something in death."
"And he asked for the family magic?" Sirius frowned.
"No, in the story Death sent Nimue who tricked Merlin into becoming a tree;
always alive and never dead and thus he would never ask for his gift." Remussaid. "Merlin, in a last ditch effort to save himself, cast a counter-spell toNimue's trap. He sent his magic to the most powerful wizards and witchesof
the day with the condition that when a single wizard or witch united his magiconce more, the tree would wither and die. At that point, he would be able toclaim his gift from Death."
"Some common themes." Sirius commented. "But it's not the same is it?"
"No…just it made me think." Remus said, finally taking a sip of his lemonade. His hair turned a nice shade of purple. Sirius kept his face straight; a reactionwould give away the prank before its surprise revelation to Moony.
"I'm not sure any of the origin stories about the family magic are actually
going to make sense of Harry's use of family magic." Remus mused out loud, stretching out and staring out at the garden. "I personally think his affinity for
it will be the power in the prophecy. Voldemort doesn't have any family magicto draw upon although I guess we don't know if Slytherin devised somethingsimilar but his line wasn't part of the Wizarding Council at the time they
became the Ancient and Noble Houses." Sirius coughed to hide the bubble of laughter that rose up as Remus's hair
turned pink.
"I take it with Albus back we're going to be able to organise getting intotheChamber of Secrets?" Remus asked.
"Finally." Sirius managed to get out as Remus's shifted to orange.
"Harry asked me this morning if Ron could come along with him." Remus said. Sirius grimaced. "I'm sure that would go down well with Molly." Althoughintruth she had stopped sniping at him since the birthday party and Sirius couldadmit he could settle for the strange truce that had developed between them.
"It may help the cover story." Remus pointed out. "If all we're supposed tobedoing is going down there to recover the basilisk and take a better look
around, Harry having someone like Ron along – who did go with himon his
first adventure too – would be a useful cover."
"That's rather cold of you, Remus." Sirius said, surprised. "You knowbetter
than anyone that we're not going down there to recover the basilisk but tofinda horcrux and it could be very dangerous. I trust Harry with it because he wasbrilliant with the ring but Ron?"
"Yes, it could be dangerous but I think Harry knows that and will keep Ronfrom doing anything risky. Bill will be there too so Ron will have another set of
eyes on him." Remus said.
"Bill will know why we're really there and do you think he's going to agree toit?" pressed Sirius, drinking deeply from his own lemonade.
"I think he will if I tell him Ron is getting very curious about what Harry is upto." Remus replied. "Harry told me that both Ron and Hermione have beentrying to get him to talk since the death threat; to confide in them. He saysthat they know he's not telling them everything, and he understands he can't
tell them about the prophecy or the treasure hunt for their protection as muchas his, but he thinks if he gives them something they'll let up. I think he's
struggling keeping these types of secrets from his friends when they've beenthe ones to help him before." Sirius harrumphed but settled back to think about Remus's words, ignoringthe blue colour of Remus's hair. "Talk to Bill and let him make the decision. If
he agrees then we'll invite Hermione along as well; she's got a sensible headon her shoulders and will be able to corral Ronald."
"Good idea."
"Hopefully, it'll give them both enough to satisfy their curiosity." Sirius saidwith a sigh. He didn't want Harry feeling torn.
"I've noticed that you seem…conflicted about Ron's friendship with Harry." Remus said suddenly, surprising Sirius into looking at him.