Harry Potter The Final Straw

Harry was about to get out of the way when Healer Pye spoke for the first time, his voice surprisingly high, "Don't move just yet, Mr. Potter. We need to get her onto a stretcher first."

Dumbledore had been listening to the conversation with half an ear and at the mention of a stretcher; he conjured one with a lazy flick of his wand. Eyes twinkling, he asked helpfully, "Is there anything else you require, Healer Pye?"

Awed that Albus Dumbledore was speaking to him, Augustus stammered, "N… No thank you, sir. I think we can manage it from here. Th… Thank you for your help."

Impressed with Dumbledore's skill at manipulation despite himself, Harry took the lesson to heart. With that one action, the Headmaster made Healer Pye believe that he was the one to do the majority of the work before the Healers from Saint Mungo's arrived. Mentally shrugging at the irony, Harry figured it was a school and he did learn some very important lessons today, even if it wasn't in a classroom.

As the Headmaster walked away, Harry pondered Malfoy's situation. He knew that Sirius and everyone else needed to know about this tonight. Just as he was about to head off to find Hermione, Tracey reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

When he leaned down next to her, she croaked out, "Thank you, Harry Potter. I owe you my life." Too tired to say anything else, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a healing sleep.

Surprised, Harry just stood there and watched them carry the young woman out of the Great Hall.

A few minutes later, a very bedraggled looking group that consisted of Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Fred, and George joined him. All of them had blood on their clothes in some fashion but none more so then Harry. He looked as if a fire hose had sprayed him with blood.

Silently, he led them out to his garden down by the lake. Once they arrived, he checked the area for more Eavesdropping spells. Finding two, he held up his finger to his lips before miming covering your ears.

When everyone had safely covered their ears, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at his throat. With the Sonorous Charm active, he stepped up to the rock that the Eavesdropping Spell had been cast upon and shouted as loud as he could in his amplified voice, "The Chudley Cannons stink!"

The sound was deafening, birds scattered from their perches in the low hung branches in the trees while Harry's friends all cringed and tried to cover their ears tighter.

Back in the castle, Albus Dumbledore winced at the volume of Harry's shout. He knew that his ears were going to ring for hours and a headache was fast developing. He quickly deactivated the other Listening Charms with a frown on his face; he did not want to suffer that fate again. Rubbing his temples gingerly, he wondered what to do now that Mr. Potter had discovered another one of his tricks of always knowing what was going on.

In the garden, Hermione could feel the mirth and a touch of smugness coming from Harry. Curious, she asked, "Did you find more Listening Charms?" When he nodded yes, she sighed and said resignedly, "You would think that he would have gotten the hint when I blocked the sound from the area last time."

The wicked smile that crossed Harry's face complimented his smug tone well, "Oh, I'm sure that Dumbledore got the message today. If I ever find another one of those things, I'm not going to be so nice next time."

Remembering that they were all still covered in blood, Hermione drew her wand and began siphoning it off herself before moving on to Harry and the others. She never noticed that she performed the spell silently.

Everyone else, however, did. They were all giving Harry and Hermione shrewd looks before George piped up, "Okay, spill. How come the two of you are so good at silent casting?"

Harry and Hermione shared a look before she answered for the both of them, "We have been practicing our silent casting all year for an hour or two per day if we have the time."

Before anyone could say more on the subject, Fred interrupted, his tone curious, "What I want to know is what you meant about Dumbledore putting Listening Charms down here?"

The corners of Harry's eyes crinkled slightly, the only obvious physical sign of his annoyance towards the Headmaster. His voice was carefully controlled as he slipped into the state of Occlumency that he guarded his emotions behind, "For some reason, Dumbledore has been keeping tabs on me for a long time. Professor McGonagall removed a Monitoring Charm from me earlier this year."

The four purebloods all gasped at Harry's revelation. An invasion of privacy on that level was almost unheard of outside of a prisoner.

George's face clouded over into an angry expression that Harry was pretty sure that he had never seen on the normally gregarious twin. Moments later, Fred's expression mirrored George's as he too worked out what that Monitoring Spell really meant.

The anger in their voices was easily detectable as they said in tandem, "You mean that Dumbledore knew what your life was like at the Dursleys in your second year?"

Neville and Ginny were at a loss. Most of the conversation between Harry and the twins was going right over their heads. Ginny understood a little from bits and pieces that she had picked up from her parent's discussions when they thought that they were alone, but she still didn't have the full picture.

Uncomfortable about the abrupt change in the conversation, Harry felt that a simple, yet direct, approach was needed. Sighing in resignation, he whispered, "Yes, he did know." while never meeting their eyes.

Hermione had moved over to Harry and had wrapped her arm around his shoulders in support. Leaning over, she whispered in his ear, "It's okay, Harry. You can tell them, they already know most of it and Fred and George will figure it out soon enough."

Straightening up, Harry turned and planted a tender kiss on her forehead before saying, "Why don't we all have a seat, this could take a while."

Curious, the four teens sat down in a semi-circle facing Harry and Hermione. They listened, enraptured, as Harry gave them the basic details of his life up to his third year at Hogwarts over the next couple of hours.

Harry was finally able to tell someone other than Hermione about his previous home life and properly thank Fred and George for rescuing him that fateful evening. The emotion he felt at their finally knowing more about his home life shocked him, it was relief instead of shame.

Harry's story allowed Fred, George, and Ginny, a better understanding of Harry's reactions to food and freedom when he first came to visit the Burrow. Neville discovered that his own life wasn't so bad after all, and in a showing of true Gryffindor Courage, he told them about his parents.

Those two hours in the garden by the lake cemented the bonds of friendship between the teens for life.

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