781Sorry for the long wait. I'm jumping between stories and it's hard when you get inspiration for one and not for the others. This is supposed to have another bit attached but I decided to split them as I can't finish the last bit. (blocking me at the moment…) Most of the second bit is done, so it is just a matter of ending it.
Hope you like this bit. Thanks for all the reviews and hopefully it won't take as long for the next chapter. Mina
BABY MAKER
Harry stepped out of the Pensive and got seated by the desk, feeling somewhat confused and cheated.
He had come all the way to Hogwarts, just so that Dumbledore could show him a memory of how awful Voldemort's family had been. That was something he could have made an educated guess about that on his own, without having to leave the house.
Dumbledore eyed him from across the table with an expectant look on his face, clearly waiting for a response of some kind.
"How does the memory of an old Auror visiting Voldemort's relatives help us defeat him?" Harry finally asked, humouring the old man.
"Sir." He added as an afterthought.
"History is always important Harry, knowing where Lord Voldemort comes from will give us an understanding of who he is." Dumbledore said after a moment of silence.
Harry had a niggling feeling he'd just disappointed the headmaster with his question.
"But do we really have the time to revisit every moment of Voldemort's past? There is as you have pointed out, a war going on out in the wizarding world." Harry said somewhat dryly.
Dumbledore sighed and closed his eyes tiredly.
"Will you not trust an old mans acquired wisdom on the matter Harry?" He asked finally.
Harry felt like snorting, no he did not in fact trust this old mans acquired wisdom at the moment.
Dumbledore sighed again and Harry wondered if his face had shown his internal thoughts.
"Harry I know that we have had a difficult time as of late…"
Harry did snort this time at the light tone the headmaster was using.
"You could say that." Harry muttered, rolling his eyes before looking around the office. It didn't look as if Dumbledore had been able to repair the things that he'd smashed the last time he'd been up here he thought, not entirely sure how to feel about his actions.
"Is it not best if we bury the hatchet for the moment? There will be time to sort out our differences later." Dumbledore asked, making Harry glance back at the headmaster and nod whilst disagreeing internally.
"I would like us to visit another memory if you could spare me the time? This is one of my own, from the time I first met young Mr Tom Riddle." Dumbledore said, before frowning at Harry's sigh.
"The memories do have a purpose, I promise you Harry." He said, sounding somewhat exasperated.
Harry felt a sliver of pleasure at being able to rattle the headmaster so easily, coupled with a small amount of shame at his treatment of the older man.
He sighed again before entering the memory in the pensive.
They returned to the headmaster office awhile later and got seated again.
Harry was just as unimpressed with the uselessness of this memory, as with the previous, and Dumbledore looked a tad put out at Harry's non-existent reaction to the information he was being given.
"Harry I must stress that these memories are of immense value in the fight against Voldemort. " Dumbledore said, eyeing Harry intently.
"I'm sure that you are right sir, I just don't see how knowing that Voldemort was a thief at eleven will make me win against him in a duel." Harry said before glancing at his watch.
Dumbledore sighed heavily.
"It is not a matter of winning or not Harry." Dumbledore said, looking a bit defeated.
"Will you come for another visit again? I do have some more information to show you." He asked, eyeing Harry pleadingly.
"If you think it would be of use." Harry said, he might after all find some information of value.
Dumbledore nodded his thanks.
"Shall we say in two weeks from now, the first Saturday in February? Perhaps you would like to take your apparition lesson at the same time as your friends, who will be beginning their lessons then?" The Headmaster asked.
"I already know how to Apparate, but the Saturday sounds fine." Harry answered, hoping that he'd be able to get a babysitter again.
"I am glad you have learnt such a useful skill, but perhaps you would like to cement it by making it legal. I am sure that I can convince the ministry to ease up on the age limit issue and allow you to take the test early." Dumbledore said with a smile and a wink.
"I don't know…" Harry mumbled, unsure whether he wanted to add more time spent away from Rose and as he already knew how to apparate it would be a bit of a waste of time.
"Well if you could let me know what you decide before next time." Dumbledore said, glancing at the door from which a knock sounded.
Harry stood from his seat and got ready to leave. He smiled brightly at the sight of Professor McGonagall entering through the door.
"Hi Professor McGonagall." He greeted, making her purse her lips at him.
"Don't you hi Professor me, Mr Potter. Come and give your head of house a hug!" She ordered with a sniff, making him smile.
"How are you getting on?" She asked, giving him a thorough inspection after letting him out of a tight hug.
"It's going really well, my studies are progressing in a good way and Rose is learning how to move around on her own at the moment." Harrys said with a smile, digging in his pocket for a picture to show.
She cooed at the sight of his little princess before jumping as Dumbledore cleared his throat softly, reminding them that he was there.
"Well I should be on my way." Harry said, smiling again at Professor McGonagall, who patted his arm fondly.
He walked towards the door but stopped at the sight of a small ring lying on one of the shelves, it looked like the ring carried by Voldemort's Grandfather in the first memory he'd seen.
Could it be another cursed item, he wondered. It had a crack running through the stone and he guessed that Dumbledore had destroyed it.
"I will see you in two weeks' time Harry." Dumbledore said, eyeing him with a strange look on his face.
Harry gave the headmaster a nod in affirmative, eyed his arm speculatively and then turned to say goodbye to his head of house.
"Make sure to come for a cup of tea afterwards, will you? And bring a few more pictures." Professor McGonagall ordered, patting his cheek softly.
He smiled at her and nodded again at the headmaster before exiting the office.
He glanced at his watch again as he descended the stairs and was glad that Fred was prepared to stay over if it got late, as he really wanted to visit Gryffindor house.
He made it up to the painting of the fat lady without meeting anyone and gave her his most charming smile.
"So you are back, Mr Potter!" She gasped, looking excited to see him.
"Hello Lady, would you mind getting someone to come and let me in?" He asked her, making her nod quickly.
It didn't take long before the painting was opened by a curious looking Neville.
"It is you!" Neville exclaimed, moving to the side so that Harry could enter the room. They could hear the fat lady calling for Violet loudly, as the painting slowly closed.
"How are you Nev? " Harry asked making the other boy nod mutely, he was still eyeing Harry with a surprised look.
"What are you doing here? Have you decided to come back?" Neville asked, having gotten over his initial shock, making Harry shake his head in negative.
"Nah, Just visiting, I had a meeting with Dumbledore and thought I'd come by and say hello." Harry answered, smiling as Ron hurried over after having spotted Harry.
"Hi mate!" He said, to which Ron just rolled his eyes.
"I thought you were going to ignore us and leave us to handle Dumbledore again!" Ron said in the way of greeting.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, ignoring the other boy's words, making Ron frown.
"Oh, stop it! Hermione's like a sister to me." Harry chided, making Ron blush and Neville roll his eyes.
Lavender, who had followed Ron, gave her boyfriend a dark look which he expertly ignored.
"Ginny ran up to get her." Neville said, following Harry as he made it over to one of the chairs. Many of the Gryffindor's present gave him waves and moved closer asking questions about his training.
"Harry!" Hermione gushed, throwing her arms around him from behind, giving him a hard hug.
"I can't believe that you are here, how long are you staying?" She gushed, ignoring Ron's dark presence, from the sofa. Lavender sighed loudly before stalking over to join Parvati on the other side of the room.
"Just a while, then I'll need to get home." Harry answered, smiling at Ginny, who stood behind Hermione grinning at him.
Colin, who had been standing on the side, moved closer and gave Harry a nervous look.
"Is it true that you gave birth to a baby Harry?" He asked, making the entire common room go quiet.
Harry eyed him stupidly for a moment.
"What do you mean, did I give birth to a baby? Where on earth did you get that idea from?" He finally managed to ask. There were several titters as some of the girl laughed at the questions stupidity.
"Well you disappeared so suddenly and Hermione's been reading a baby book and she keeps talking about you and your baby. …" Colin spluttered, pointing his finger accusingly at Hermione, who blushed at Harry's look. Really she should have been more careful.
"And I read in the Quibbler that men can get pregnant if they eat Ginnyberries." He added, ignoring the now full out laughs coming from some of the gathered students.
"And it never struck you that Hermione could have a new project going on? Or that my baby might be older than you think?" Harry asked, thinking fast. Colin blinked but didn't look convinced.
"Harry does have a girlfriend coming over almost daily." Hermione injected quickly, offering Harry an apologetic look.
"You should have just asked me Colin, instead of making things up." Hermione chided, making him eye her mulishly.
"What! You didn't mention anything about a girlfriend at Christmas!" Ginny exclaimed next to Hermione, looking shocked.
Harry rolled his eyes at her and hoped that she'd understand what they were doing.
"It isn't really any of your business if he has a girlfriend or not, Ginny." Ron pointed out, eyeing Harry with a somewhat hopeful look on his face, making his sister glare. Harry felt like rolling his eyes again, what was wrong with them. They knew the truth after all.
Dean who stood by Ginny's side gave her a dark look when she just continued to stare at Harry, he sighed once and stalked over to Seamus.
Ginny huffed when it became clear that Harry wasn't denying the girlfriend claim and left for the girls dormitory in a tiff.
"So you didn't give birth to a baby?" Colin asked again, just for confirmation, earning himself snorts from the gathered people in the room.
"Of course not!" Harry said exasperated, somehow managing to keep a serious face, making Colin's face fall with disappointment.
Harry shook his head in astonishment, Colin couldn't actually have believed that he, Harry, had been pregnant.
Wasn't Colin a muggleborn with the knowledge that men didn't in fact get pregnant?
Harry spent an hour with his friends, promising to visit again soon, not mentioning that he was scheduled to come back in two weeks.
It was almost half past eleven by the time Harry got home and he chuckled at the sight of Fred and Rose still sitting in the living room.
Rose looking far more awake than Fred, even though her bedtime was at seven.
"Dada!" Rose called when she spotted him, squirming in Fred's arms.
Fred grimaced, at having been caught failing in his babysitting duties and gave Harry a small smile.
"Sorry, she kept waking up every time I put her down and now she won't go to sleep at all." Fred apologised, handing a happily smiling Rose over.
"No problem, I figured that you might have some problems getting her settled for the night." Harry said, hugging Rose close.
Fred's insulted scowl was ruined by a jaw popping yawn.
"Are you staying over in the guest room?" Harry asked, getting a tired nod from Fred.
"If you don't mind me staying? I'd probably end up flooing myself somewhere I shouldn't be. Besides, I want to hear how the meeting went and George said that he'd come over in the morning as well." Fred said, making Harry shrug, he was used to the two of them popping over whenever. They knew that the floo was locked during the night and opened again when Harry was awake.
Harry carried Rose up to her room and got seated in the armchair next to her cot, after checking her nappy.
"You are supposed to be sleeping Rose, so try to at least look a little tired." Harry muttered, smiling when she actually yawned in response to his words.
He rocked her gently and started humming a little tune. She snuggled into his shoulder and sighed heavily, prompting Harry to give her a soft kiss on the head.
A short while later he stepped out of her room closing the door softly, feeling very pleased with himself.
He spotted Fred exiting the bathroom and smiled at the shocked look on the other man's face.
"No way! Is she asleep already?" Fred asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"I tried everything but she refused, just cried. I couldn't just leave her crying in bed, it seemed really mean." He grumbled, stumbling towards the guest room.
Harry laughed, knowing exactly how Fred felt.
The next morning was spent with Fred feeding his goddaughter her breakfast.
Harry was able to eat his breakfast in peace for the first time in ages and burnt his tongue on the very hot tea, which usually had time to chill.
"So? What did you talk about?" Was George way of greeting, as he stepped out of the floo. He smiled once at Rose, who sat digging in her porridge with her hands, now that she was full.
"Dumbledore showed me some memories about Voldemort in his pensive." Harry said jumping straight into the subject, still feeling that the meeting had been somewhat of a waste of time.
George eyed him with raised brows.
"What kind of memories?" He asked, making Harry shrug.
"The normal kind, I guess. Dumbledore was the one who told Voldemort about magic, when he was eleven that is. He lived at a muggle orphanage after his mum died giving birth to him." Harry said, sipping on his tea.
Fred lifted Rose out of her seat and placed her on the floor, after cleaning her hands and face and she made for her basket of toys at once, turning it over happily.
"Not sure if I should feel sorry for the bastard or not." Fred muttered thoughtfully.
"He was a real bastard at eleven already, but I'm not sure either." Harry said, thinking about the look on the young boys face as he'd learnt about magic being real.
Fred and George both nodded as if that had been a given.
"The orphanage lady seemed scared of him and couldn't wait to get rid of him." Harry added.
George snorted and rolled his eyes.
"I can imagine that." He said, giving an involuntary shiver.
"I also got to see Voldemort's family before he was born. His Grandfather, uncle and mum all spoke Parceltongue. His uncle had a habit of nailing snakes to the door and liked torturing muggles which his grandfather didn't see anything wrong with. His mum was bullied by them both before drugging a muggle and running away with him." Harry said.
He remembered that Mr Gaunt had dragged his daughter by her necklace, a necklace, he only now realised was in his possession.
"It was his mums." Harry muttered, cross with himself for not realising earlier.
"Lost us, mate." Fred said, after a moment of silence.
"Sorry, the locket I destroyed before, it belonged to his mum. And Dumbledore had the grandfather's ring on his shelf." Harry said, mentally berating himself.
Fred sighed.
"Still lost, what ring?" He asked patiently.
"Dumbledore had a ring in his office and it belonged to Voldemort's grandfather." Harry explained, rubbing his arm which had gotten goose bumps.
"So you think it was cursed like the diary and locket and that's why his arm is as it is?" Fred asked, cottoning on to what Harry meant, making George draw a deep breath in understanding.
"Didn't you say that Voldemort cursed the things to steal people's souls?" George asked, somewhat cautiously.
Harry nodded slowly, lost in thought.
"Yes, but Dumbledore must have destroyed it, it had a crack in it." Harry said, making the twins glance at each other.
"He must have, I doubt he'd leave it out in the open otherwise." Harry mumbled, making them nod.
"Just how many of those things do you think he has made?" George asked after a moment, making Harry's head turn at that thought.
"I have no idea but I have hunch of one other so that would make it four so far, the Diary, Locket, Ring and a Cup."
Fred swore loudly before glancing at Rose, who laughed at his tone, with horrified eyes.
"Sorry Harry!" He mumbled, making George smirk.
"Good going Goddad, teach the kid a few choice words. Mum's going to be thrilled that her talk about the duties of a godfather really stuck with you." George said, sniggering at the glare he received from his twin.
Harry shrugged, not too worried about Rose learning swearwords yet.
"Ron called you stupid pricks in her presence, you can blame him for any bad words she says and he'll probably fall for it." He said absentmindly, making Fred glance at George.
"We really have been ignoring our little brother too much lately, don't you think?" Fred asked George, who laughed rather evilly in response. Rose glanced at them before joining in the laughter, much to their delight.
"Just keep my name out of it." Harry implored, getting twin nods in affirmative.
Poor Ron, be afraid be very afraid. Interested to hear what you thought of Harry's time in the tower…
Thanks for reading: ) Mina