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Shadows of the Past	By : LadyLaran Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Het - Male/Female Views: 12317 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer – We do not own “Harry Potter,” “the Silmarillion,” and “the Hobbit.” We don't make any money for this story.

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Author’s Note – We’re quite pleased with how things are turning out. All of our readers have had nice things to say, and I hope we continue to please everyone with the story. We’ve been busy working hard on this story, and we’re happy with how things are going. It’s been a lot of fun.

Disclaimer – We do not own “Harry Potter,” “the Hobbit,” or “the Silmarillion.” We don’t make money from this story either.

Chapter Six – A Letter and a Discussion

After a restless night with very little sleep and a nice breakfast in the infirmary, Hari was asked to walk around the hospital wing to get used to the brace on her knee. Once she was able to prove she could maneuver without falling over, thanks to the walking stick the medi-witch had provided, Madam Pomfrey showed her the routes to take that would enable her to avoid stairs. Hari made note of them, thanking the woman for her aid once the small tour was over, and she was dismissed to return to her common room.

Hari found her friends sitting at a table in the common room, frowning over something in front of them. She sat down next to Hermione, smiling when Ron jumped, startled by her appearance.

“Bloody hell, Hari, don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” she said, giggling for a few moments. “What are you two staring at so intently?”

“The petition we wrote last night,” Hermione answered. “We had one of the prefects take it this morning, and she went to each table during breakfast to explain the concerns we have about the dementors. We have a lot of signatures already, Hari.”

“Get this, mate. Malfoy even signed it,” Ron informed her, surprising the dark haired witch.

“Seriously,” she asked, shocked by the news.

“Apparently, the presence of the dementors is causing a lot of emotional distress and nightmares for students in every house. I know they’re at the gates and not too close to the school, but there’s so many of them that it’s affecting all of the kids,” the bushy haired witch answered while Ron passed the pot of ink and quill to their friend.

“Wow,” Hari murmured, reaching for a piece of parchment. “Okay, then I guess it’s time to write the letter. I just hope I can do this without stepping on anyone’s toes. I don’t want to make people in our government mad at me.”

As she dropped the quill in ink, Hari suddenly got the feeling of that she had written important letters like this in the past but didn’t remember how or when she would have done so. She shook the feeling off and focused on what she had to write.

To the Editor of the Daily Prophet

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is the first time I have ever addressed the public; I admit to being nervous about it as I am not one to utilize my fame for anything nor do I seek attention from the media as I enjoy living a quiet life. Truthfully, I am not a fan of the title of “the Girl Who Lived” when I am fairly certain my mother did something to ensure my survival that Halloween night and not something I did. Despite my misgivings regarding the fame the wizarding world has gifted me, I decided to break my silence due to an important topic that puts a considerable amount of people at risk.

You see, I live in the muggle world when I am not attending school and am learning how my fellow witches and wizards handle things differently than those who do not have magic. I was surprised by the use of the dementors to try and catch an escaped convict when policemen or aurors, as I have been told they are called in our world, are usually the best method to catch those who have broken the law. In truth, Scotland Yard (the muggle police agency) has a very high record for catching those who go against the Queen’s law and try to evade capture so I expected to find that our world has an agency of equal skill and reputation.

When I recently asked about this, I was informed by a fellow student that the auror department is both understaffed and underfunded so they must use these dangerous creatures to try and catch Sirius Black instead of utilizing the most powerful tool at the government’s disposal - the human mind and instinct.

I am worried about this school year because there are dementors stationed around Hogwarts in an attempt to capture Black should he try to enter the school. Children are a great source of emotional highs and lows that a dementor uses as food, and these dark creatures are not easily controlled when such a rich and abundant food source is available to them.

The aura they emit can be felt everywhere, and there have been reports of nightmares and periods of depression amongst the students. To make matters worse, a group of dementors attacked the students during a quidditch game because of the joy and high energy that comes with the excitement of watching your house teams compete against each other. All of the children are at serious risk here, and the dementors need to be removed in order to secure their mental and physical well being. Surely there is another alternative to keep us safe while still hunting for this escapee?

In truth, I know our government is doing what they can to catch this criminal and might not have realized just how much danger the students are in due to believing that the school can prevent any attacks or ill-effects from the dementors. The staff is working as hard as they can, but I believe it will take a combined effort between them and our government to keep this school safe.

Attached to this letter is a petition asking for the government to withdraw the dementors and find an alternative to keep the students protected. I know they can do something to ensure the children here are kept healthy and safe while they protect us from the dangers this escaped convict presents.

Please, help keep the students safe!

Sincerely,

Harriet Potter

Looking it over, Hari felt pleased. It was straight to the point and polite without making her look like she was an attention seeker or trying to make the government look bad. She handed it to Ron and Hermione to read, knowing the other witch would check for grammar and spelling while the wizard would ensure she hadn’t stepped on any toes.

“I think it looks good, Hari,” Ron said after he’d finished reading it. “I’d have Mione duplicate it before sending it to the Prophet. One of the upper level students is going to cast a charm where it makes it so the editor will have to print all of it and not parts of it.”

“Oh that’s good,” the dark haired witch answered, pleased with the idea. “I just hope it does some good. Besides, maybe it is time that I actually use some of my fame as the Girl-Who-Lived and see if I can’t help someone with whatever attention that stupid title draws.”

“Make it work for others,” he agreed. “If we do this now and get it sent off with Hedwig, you might make it for a special edition tonight.”

Hermione duplicated the letter and petition, then took one set to the upperclassman who had offered to help. Once the charm was set, she hurried to the owlrey and sent the beautiful snowy owl off with the small packet. The owl affectionately nipped her human’s friend and set off to deliver everything.

“Even if they don’t know that I was nearly killed, the fact that the dementors left their posts and came to the match should be a wake-up call. Really, no matter what Black once did, I do NOT blame him for escaping if he wanted to get away from those things,” Hari said with a shudder after Hermione had left on her errand. “Having those things around is just inhumane.”

“Me either,” Ron agreed. “Those things are horrible; you’d think they would come up with a better way to handle prisoners.”

Hari tried to not think of what the dementors had forced her to partly remember. She had no doubt she had died in a very horrible way in her past life. The look on her face must have tipped Ron off since he reached out, squeezing her shoulder as he tried to reassure and comfort his friend.

“I know it’s got to be rough, but you’re not alone. Okay?”

The emerald eyed girl smiled faintly at him, glad for his support. Sometimes, she really hoped that Ron would find a way to outshine his many brothers by finding an interest in something that none of them had been doing before him.

Knowing she needed a distraction, the redhead changed the subject to something he’d been thinking about since the summer.

“I forgot to tell you,” he began. “You know how I got to get a new wand this summer? Bill took me to Ollivander’s and while I was trying to find the right one, I got to talking to him about what it is that Mr. Ollivander does. To be honest, I think wand crafting sounds interesting.”

“Oh?” she wondered, thinking that this could be Ron’s big chance to maybe finally stand out from his five brothers. “Maybe we can check out some of the history of crafting wands, just for fun?”

As a result, they soon ended up in the library, finding all sorts of interesting books about wand lore and the crafting of wands. Knowing Hermione wouldn’t know where they were, they left the library with some of the books they’d found on the subject the wizard was interested in. Ron ended up carrying them because Hari needed her walking stick and was not allowed to put any extra weight on her damaged knee yet.

“I am actually a wee bit curious about one thing, Ron, and maybe you might know the answer. In muggle stories, at least in the few I managed to read in secret behind the Dursley’s backs, wizards and witches often used a staff instead of a wand like we do now. What caused the change?”

“I think Bill said something about the use of staves coming from the really old times, like in the Ancient Egypt. Back then, a magical staff was seen as a sign of the gods’ favour. It was pretty useful as a weapon against enemies too since it could be used to knock them out without having to use magic.”

“Why aren’t they used anymore,” she asked, leading him down a short cut so they wouldn’t have to take the stairs.

“The old ways were forgotten as more muggleborn came into the wizarding world,” he explained. “It was a sign of great power when a staff was chosen for a wizard or witch. I think there’s not been anyone born lately with the power levels where a staff was needed.”

“Is that one of the reasons muggleborn wizards and witches aren’t liked,” she asked, not having heard this before.

“It’s the start of the problem,” Ron answered. “A lot of our culture has been weeded out due to misunderstandings. Years ago, it wasn’t a problem because there were lessons for the incoming students who weren’t raised in our world so they could integrate into our society without too many problems. As years passed, the view on things changed due to those lessons being removed from the curriculum. Because of that, a lot of our holidays and religious traditions were declared to be wrong.”

Hearing that, Hari suddenly felt a strong pity for Salazar Slytherin. Was this part of the reason why he had ended up leaving Hogwarts, which he had helped found? Clearly things must have been different a thousand years ago, when Hogwarts was opening its doors for the first students, with life being so much more dangerous and unsure for both magical and non-magical people. While she did disagree with him about that muggleborn students should not be allowed to set foot in Hogwarts, she still respected him as a great wizard of his time and as a founder of Hogwarts.

“When did this happen,” she asked, curious about how things had started changing.

“It’s been recent,” he answered. “About a century or so when the last of the wizarding culture classes were removed. I never could find out why they’d done it. Truth is, I think people might be more willing to understand each other more if muggle raised students were to go through classes to learn the traditions instead of clamoring for everything to be changed. I also think wizard raised, like myself, need to be taught about the muggle world too to keep the statute safe as well as help foster understanding.”

‘And Ron is seen as not being able in school like his brothers, honestly? I don’t get it,’ she thought silently to herself, then asked her friend about the very thing she was thinking of.

“Well, it’s easy to be overlooked when you’ve got five brothers like mine,” he answered, blushing. “I don’t stand out compared to them or Ginny and never have. I don’t mind learning now because you two have shown me it’s important to study and do well even if my parents don’t pay attention because they’re fawning over Percy or yelling at the twins.”

His words brought up another feeling in Hari as if she almost could hear someone mutter for himself in a barely heard whisper for her ears.

~“It is not MY fault that I am the most similar to Father out of us seven, despite not being the firstborn.”~

She blinked, startled by the memory coming forward though she couldn’t recognize the speaker, and she had a strong feeling that she knew that person awfully well.

“I pretty much made up my mind that I was going to do my own thing,” Ron continued, unaware of his friend’s problem.

“That’s a very good idea,” she said softly, drawing her friend’s attention.

“Either you’re in pain or had a memory coming forward,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“It sounds like part of an argument,” Hari answered. “I don’t recognize the one speaking, but the voice is one I could swear I’ve heard befor. This is going to drive me crazy, Ron!”

“We’re not going to let it get to that point,” he told her. “Hermione’s owled her mum about the books, and I’m going to teach both of you how to meditate.”

She was taken aback by that comment, and the witch looked at her best friend as they slowly made their way back to the common room.

“You meditate?”

“Mum’s been teaching me over the years. I had worse control over my temper back then, and my magic was giving me trouble. Meditation helps calm me down, and she said Dad’ll start teaching me occlumency this summer now that I can meditate without a problem. I think meditation might help you stay calm as well as maybe allow you control when these memories try to show up.”

“It’s worth a try, Ron. Thank you.”

“Welcome,” he said, giving the password to the portrait.

“What’s occlumency,” she asked, listening with interest as he told her about the art of protecting one’s mind from invasion. Hari felt that it could be useful to know one day in the future and resolved to study it as soon as she could.

At the same time this discussion was going on, Dumbledore was reading over the reports that he’d received from Madam Pomfrey as well as Remus regarding how Hari Potter was doing. He was stymied by what had caused the breakdown and magical exhaustion she had experienced; it certainly wasn’t something that was caused by Voldemort. This was not any form of magic he knew of, and he doubted anyone else knew of it either so he was at a loss in regards where to look to research this to help the girl.

It was a puzzle that he would need to solve and hopefully soon. The girl was needed in so many ways that she did not even know about, and having the savior of the wizarding world experiencing break downs was not going to reassure anyone.

Authors’ End Note – Rogercat and I hope everyone enjoyed this. I do want to give a warning that the next few chapters will have time skips so no one will be confused when you read next week’s chapter. Please let us know what you thought of the story, and have a great week. We shall see you next week! ~ Laran & Rogercat
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Shadows of the Past