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Yeah! Here's the new chapter!
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Hearing what I said, Harry looked at me confused, not understanding the reason for my seriousness.
But underneath his confusion the conflicting feelings of anger and sadness still dominated him, and because of that Harry wanted some alone time to himself.
"Sorry, but I don't want to talk right now" he said frowning, turning his face and looking at the floor in front of him.
Seeing him acting this way I sighed, and then I walked over to him, sitting down next to him.
"Sorry Harry, but we really need to talk," I repeated, but more softly this time.
Harry continued to stare straight ahead, but I could feel him getting irritated, and to stop him from saying or doing anything I continued.
"Harry, it's obvious to anyone with two eyes that you're not fine" I started to say, "And I'm sure all your friends are worried about you, and it's not just your friends, the teachers too and even --"
"How can you be so sure?" he asked interrupting me, still not looking at me.
"What?"I asked confused by his question.
"How can you be so sure they're worried about me?" he asked again, lifting his head and looking at me, and I was surprised to find uncertainty, anger and sadness reflecting in his eyes.
"Well, they're your friends, so it's obvious they'd be worried about you," I said with a shrug, and Harry snorted scornfully before turning away.
"Sigh... Look Harry, I really can't speak for everyone, but do you seriously think Ron and Hermione aren't worried about you?" I asked seeing that he didn't believe me, "They are your two best friends and you know them better than I do, so you must know very well how worried they must be"
Harry, after listening to what I said, started looking down at his hands in thought, and I could feel his emotions changing.
'Worried about me huh...' he thought, lifting his head to look at the frozen lake in front of him.
Part of him wanted to deny that anyone really cared about him, but the other part could remember Ron and Hermione's worried faces whenever he said he was fine when he really wasn't.
'Maybe... maybe they really care about me' he thought, but then he shook his head, 'What are you saying Harry? It's obvious they care about you, they're your friends... They even faced the challenges that protected the philosopher's stone to help you stop Voldemort... They put themselves in danger for you!' he said to himself mentally, wanting to slap himself for not having faith in his friends.
"Sigh... You're right," he said. Harry then looked down at his lap for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts, until he finally started to speak, "I'm not feeling very well these days, and there are some issues that keep running through my mind, leaving me frustrated, confused... and afraid"
When he said that I could see how tense his shoulders were, and I realized only now how stressful it must be for him to have to know that a bloodthirsty murderer is after him, especially now that he knows that this murderer was once a friend of his parents and that he betrayed them.
"Let me guess, these matters concern Sirius Black, right?" I asked, and Harry turned to me.
"How do you know?" he asked me.
"The question should be how would I not know" I huffed, "Everyone at school talks or suspects that Sirius Black is after you, and it's not that hard to connect the dots to figure out what's stressing you out so much"
"Oh…" was the only thing Harry managed to say.
"But you know," I began, drawing Harry's attention who was looking at me out of the corner of his eye, "Unlike the others who are just making assumptions, I know why the Ministry and the teachers think Sirius Black is coming after you. "
"Do you know?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes" I nodded, "They think Black is coming after you to finish his master's work by killing you, and besides, he couldn't let his betrayal of his parents be in vain, ins't it?"
When I said that Harry immediately turned to face me so fast his neck almost snapped. I could feel the shock and surprise coming off of him, and his wide eyes showed he wasn't expecting me to say that.
"How do you know that?!" he asked.
"I've done my research" I replied, but I could see by the look in his eyes that he didn't understand, "Sigh... Harry, you are a celebrity in the United Kingdom wizarding world, and even the wizarding communities of other countries know about the your history and fame" I said.
"Really? Am I known in other countries too?" he asked in surprise, but then he shook his head, "No, wait, what does that have to do with you knowing that Black betrayed my parents?"
Hearing his question I rolled my eyes.
"You're a celebrity for a reason, and that's because of what happened that Halloween night 12 years ago... the night you defeated Voldemort" I said, and Harry looked at me in surprise.
"You said his name…" he said, and I shrugged.
"It's just a name, and besides, I've spent my whole life in the Muggle world not knowing about Voldemort, why would I be afraid to say his name now?" I asked, and Harry opened his mouth before closing it again.
"You have a good point," he said.
"But well, back to the subject... That night the war that had plagued the wizarding world for a many years had come to an end, but it was only after a few months that the last remnants of the war were definitely over" I said, and seeing that Harry was paying attention to me I continued.
"Many will say that the war was over on the 31st of October, but in truth there were still Death Eaters causing chaos and fear in search of their master, families were still fleeing or hiding, and there was the big event that shook both the light side and the dark side... the betrayal and imprisonment of Sirius Black"
"What do you mean by an event that shook both the light and dark sides?" Harry asked me.
"Simple, Black was a close friend of your father, and everyone who ever studied with them at Hogwarts knew that, so imagine what the reaction of all these people must have been when they found out that Black was actually Voldemort's right hand man and that had betrayed the Potters by helping his master kill them" I said.
I knew what I was saying wasn't the truth and that Sirius was innocent, but I couldn't overwhelm Harry with that information just yet.
I knew that Harry couldn't bear to know the truth about his parents' deaths, so I decided that I would only talk about the things that everyone else already knew.
"People must have been shocked" Harry said and I nodded.
"Shocked is an understatement" I said, "And you must know that the newspapers obviously wouldn't pass up the opportunity to write several articles about those shocking events, right?" I asked and he nodded, "Well, those newspapers ran articles about that event, and it was from those old newspaper articles that I got my information, and that's why I know so much about those events"
"...that explains a lot," Harry muttered.
"But you know what" I said getting his attention, "I don't believe any of those articles"
"Huh?" he looked at me in surprise.
"Newspapers only write what they know and what they want, and it's not always the truth," I continued, "And unlike people in the wizarding world, I look for my information in places other than newspapers, and that information are much more reliable
"What do you mean?" Harry asked me.
"What I mean is that I don't believe that Sirius Black betrayed your parents, nor that he was a Death Eater in Voldemort's service" I replied.
"What?" Harry looked at me stunned.
"Black and your father, James Potter, spent 7 years of their lives living within the castle walls of Hogwarts, and the castle itself holds many memorabilia and memories about them, and they do not show any sign that Black was a murderous madman or someone bad" I shrugged.
"But I heard Hagrid and the Minister say that…" Harry started to say, but I cut him off.
"Listen Harry, Hagrid may be the kindest, nicest person I know, but even he can't escape the lack of common sense that plagues the wizarding world," I said, "And they were talking about something that involves your own life, and sorry if this is going to sound mean but you should research and find out about your life story for yourself rather than hearing it coming from other people even if they are your friends"
Hearing this, Harry frowned before looking down.
"Honestly Harry, I know more about your parents, your family, and even yourself before that Halloween night than you do," I said, and Harry couldn't deny it.
Harry continued to stare down at his lap lost in thought, and I let him mull over what I had just said while humming softly, enjoying the cool wind that ruffled my hair.
...
...
...
"Before I came to Hogwarts I was just Harry, and I didn't know much about my parents other than what my uncle and aunt told me…" Harry started to say, catching my attention.
"But then the night Hagrid showed up and said I was a wizard everything in my life changed... I found out how my parents died, I saw people pushing up to try to shake my hand even though I didn't know why, I found out that I'm famous, I found out that a racist psychopath tried to kill me and failed, and now I'm discovering that everything I know may not actually be the truth..."
With his hands in his lap, Harry curled them into a fist as he took a deep breath.
"Since the day I was left on my aunt and uncle's doorstep I couldn't decide things for myself anymore. And when I came to Hogwarts I thought I would find the answers to my questions, and even with some of them being answered others are still unknown to me, and people never give me complete answers or even answer me..."
After saying that, I saw Harry lifting his head to look at me, and I could see the decision, determination and strength behind his eyes.
"I want to know everything about my family, about my parents, and about even the war years ago that made me famous... I want to know everything" he said, and I could see the conviction in his voice, "Please Ethan, help me to know my story"
And listening to his request, a wide smile began to appear on my face.
"You can count on me," I said, and a small smile played on Harry's lips.
End.
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(End AN: I don't know if I've asked you this question before, but I've always wanted to know where my readers come from.
So here's the question, what's your country? You can answer directly, or you can use a cryptic answer for other readers and me to guess.)