The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

The Portrait and the Prophet

"No, he has to be at rest," Sirius said, sounding panicked. "Please. He has to be! Because James said he was with Maryrose and --"

"No, no, calm down - he's at rest, this doesn't effect whether he's at rest or not." Remus said, "Portraits aren't their true selves. Portraits hold some of the personality of a person, and sometimes a bit of the memory, but they don't actually connect with the soul directly. He's gone, he's at rest. This portrait isn't actually Regulus... I believe it's more like the rendering of Regulus as he was seen by - well, me, as I'm the artist."

Sirius frowned.

Seeing Sirius's face, Remus said, "But, of course, I might be wrong, I'll have to - to research it a bit more." Remus paused, studying the face looking back at himself. "Just... please be careful with it until I've had a chance to look into it a bit? Don't go - getting all attached - or - or what have you? Not yet? I mean, I'm not sure what his personality will be like if he starts speaking."

"He did speak, he said thank you when I said bless you," Sirius said.

"I know, but  --" Remus paused. "Just be careful." He handed the frame to Sirius.

Sirius stared into the frame as the portrait yawned again, and blinked a few times, then looked back up at Sirius. The smile that Remus had drawn him with came across his mouth then, and a couple of near-impossible to see dimples popped his cheeks. It had been years since Sirius had seen Regulus's dimples. When they were children.

"Reg?" Sirius whispered.

The portrait's eyes met his, but it didn't speak.

The flat over Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor was a buzz in the morning as the Daily Prophet arrived. The newspaper was dropped at the kitchen table by a tawny owl, who Jasper paid with a strip of bacon that he was cooking. Meg was stirring blueberries into pancake batter, Eli standing on a chair beside her, helping, a huge grin on his face. Jasper was whistling aimlessly as he waved his wand and the bacon flipped over, sizzling merrily in the pan, and unravelled the newspaper.

"Bloody hell," he said.

"What?" Meg asked, looking up.

Jasper laughed. "James Potter's on the front page."

"What?" Meg turned about and looked over Jasper's shoulder.

GIANTS ATTACK IN IRELAND; AURORS DEFEAT GURG; POTTER SAVES THE DAY, the top headline read. There was a magical shot of the village of Dunlewey Proper, flattened houses and the lot, smoke rising up from the rubble, and a crowd of people gathered about. A couple of them waved when the photos saw Jasper looking at them - including, he spotted with surprise, Sean Buckner and Annalee McKinnon. Juxtaposed with the image of Dunlewey was a photo of James Potter, looking rather confused and embarassed, as though even the photograph wasn't sure how it got there. Below that, a picture of Harry Underhill, bruised, but looking determined and proud. One last photo showed a cluster of aurors standing in the grass, a bit battered, but triumphant just the same.

Meg's jaw dropped. "What in the world?"

The article said that James had saved thirty people from their homes after they'd been stepped upon by giants and collapsed. Nearly half the residents of Dunlewey Proper, the wizarding portion of the village, were out of homes but thankful to be alive because of James's efforts.

"The minute I said me grandmum was at home and might need help, there wasn't a moment's hesitation," Sean Buckner was quoted saying. "He went right into rescue mode and it's only on account of James Potter that my grandmum and I are alive right now to talk about it."