Redemption For A Monster (Marauder fanfic) Book Three

28- Bittersweet

With Snape agreeing to make her more of her potion, Sara's mood instantly improved, and she became happier than she had been in a long time.
Having Harry around, also made Sara feel better, and she was exstatic when he came home from the Ministry, after being cleared of all charges.
Although Sirius was happy at first, that Harry hadn't been expelled, he began to get rather miserable and depressed, as the summer went on, because he knew Harry would be returning to school on the 1st of September.
Sara could sympathise with Sirius, as she was going to miss Harry, but she knew that he belonged at Hogwarts, and was glad that he would be returning there. So she did all she could, to try and make Sirius happier with the situation, so that Harry didn't feel bad about going back to school.

On the last day of the holidays, they threw a party for Ron and Hermione, who had been chosen as the new Gryffindor Prefects.
Despite him putting on a happy face, Sara could tell that Harry was upset that he hadn't been chosen. She was also confused as to why Dumbledore had chosen Ron, over Harry, as Harry was the more obvious choice for Prefect.
"Well I think a toast is in order. To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor Prefects" announced Molly, as everyone raised their glasses.
Ron and Hermione both blushed as everyone drank to them and applauded.

"I was never a Prefect myself. My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities" admitted Tonks, who had changed her hair colour, to make herself look like a Weasley.
"Like what?" Asked Ginny curiously.
"Like the ability to behave myself" grinned Tonks, making Ginny laugh.
"What about you Sirius?" Ginny questioned.
"No one in their right mind, would have made me a Prefect. I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge" revealed Sirius.
"I think Dumbledore hoped I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends. I need scarecly say that I failed" admitted Remus.
"Sara, were you a Prefect?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid not. Your mother was chosen instead of me. I was bitter about it at the time, but now I see that the teachers made the right choice. To be honest I also spent too much time in detention with James and Sirius, to be a good role model" answered Sara.

After dinner had finished, and everyone in the room was having small private converstations, Sara saw Harry walk nervously away from Mad-Eye Moody, with something in his hand. His behaviour confused her, so she got up and made her way over to him.
"What have you got there Harry?" She asked him.
"Nothing" muttered Harry, as he tried to hide the thing he was carrying.
"Show me" insisted Sara.
Harry sighed, and stepped out of the kitchen, allowing Sara to follow, before showing her the picture he had been hiding.
"Moody just gave me this. He said it's a photo of the original Order of the Phoenix" explained Harry.
Sara looked down at the picture in Harry's hand, and she felt a lump in her throat.
"Why did he give you this?".
"He said that he thought it might interest me" replied Harry.

"It's made you sad though" Sara said softly, looking at her godson's face.
"It's nothing. I just wasn't expecting to be shown something like this, without warning... Everyone looks so happy in this, but Moody told me what happened to them all, and most of these people are dead now" admitted Harry.
"Yes they are. And it's alright to feel sad, about seeing them on here"
"My parents look very happy standing next to you and Remus"
"And so they should, it was our engagement party afterall"
"What?"
"Me and Remus were engaged a long time ago"
"I never knew... Why did you break up?"
"Neither of us were the same after the war. Our lives had been ruined, by the losses of our friends. We'd go days without talking, and weeks without leaving the house. So one night, I got up and left him, as I couldn't take it anymore. If you can imagine what it would be like to lose Ron and Hermione, then you'll understand how we felt after losing everyone we cared about... Anyway, it was a long time ago, and we've both moved on".

"Did you know the other people on this, as well?" Questioned Harry.
"I sure did. I shared a bedroom at Hogwarts with some of them. Me, Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon, Alice Longbottom, all shared a room with your mother. Along with one other girl, named Mary, who is not on here, which is why she is the only one who is still alive, mentally and physically" answered Sara.
Harry's jaw dropped.
"They were your room mates?".
"Yes. And you can't imagine how it felt to lose them all. I wasn't as close to the rest of the Order, but I still knew them all; Benjy, Edgar, Caradoc, Gideon and Fabian- Molly's brothers. There's hardly any original Order members left now. But this time, things will be different, because we don't have Peter betraying us from the inside any more" replied Sara.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but he suddenly heard the sound of crying, stopping him in his tracks.
Sara removed her wand, and Harry copied, as they approached the nearby room, that they thought the sound was coming from.
"Hello?" Harry called out.
Sara rested her finger on her lips, warning him to be quiet.
She then took a deep breath, before pushing open the drawing room door, to see what had happened inside.
Molly was on the floor, crying beside Ron's dead body.
Sara frowned, as she had seen Ron only moments earlier, in the kitchen downstairs.
"Mrs Weasley?" Croaked Harry, looking scared.
"R-R-Riddikulus" sobbed Molly, pointing her wand at Ron's body.

Ron's dead body quickly changed, turning into a corpse of Bill.
"No!" Cried Molly, as she failed to dispell the Boggart.
The creature changed again, turning into Arthur, then the twins, then Percy, before landing on Harry.
Even though she knew it wasn't real, seeing a dead Harry, scared Sara, making her drop to her knees.
"Sara! Mrs Weasley, just get out of here. Let someone else do it" shouted Harry, who seemed to be acting much calmer than Sara and Molly were.
"What's going on?" Asked Remus, who suddenly entered the room, closely followed by Sirius, and Moody.
Remus scanned the room quickly, before realising what was going on.
"Riddikulus" he said firmly, causing the Boggart to turn into a full moon, before dissappearing completely.

"Molly, it was just a Boggart" Remus said softly, as he bent down to the floor, and allowed Molly to cry onto his shoulder.
"You alright?" Whispered Sirius, as he helped Sara off the floor.
Once back on her feet, Sara nodded, before looking down at Molly, who was still crying.
"I see them dead all the time. I dream about it. D-don't tell Arthur. I don't want him to know... being silly" Molly sobbed.
Remus handed her a handkerchief, and she blew her nose loudly.
"Harry, I'm sorry, what must you think of me? Not being able to get rid of a Boggart... I'm just so worried. Half the family is in the Order. And Percy is still not talking to us. What if something dreadful happened, and we never made it up with him? And what is going to happen if Arthur and I get killed, who's going to look after Ron and Ginny?" Molly continued.

"Molly that's enough. This isn't like last time. The Order is better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what Voldemort is up to. I can't promise you that no one is going to get hurt, but we're much better off than we were last time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't understand. Last time, we were outnumbered, 20 to 1, and the Death Eaters were picking us off, one by one" admitted Remus.
Sara's thoughts were on the photo Moody had given Harry, and she had begun remembering all the people she had lost.
She hadn't seen a picture of all of her friends, in quite some time, so seeing James, Dorcas, Alice and Marlene's smiling faces looking up at her, had taken it's toll.

"Don't worry about Percy either. He'll come round. It's only a matter of time before Voldemort moves into the open, and once he does, the Ministry will be begging us for an apology" Sirius said firmly.
"And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny, if you and Arthur died, what do you think we'd do, let them starve?" Asked Remus.
"Being silly" muttered Molly in response.
As they all headed out of the room, Sirius pulled Sara aside, as he was worried about her, because she still hadn't said anything, since the Boggart had dissappeared.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked.

Sara smiled, and nodded her head.
"Yes" she lied, not wanting Sirius to know how she was feeling, about the picture she'd seen.
"Cos you don't look too good" admitted Sirius.
"Well, seeing our godson dead on the floor, was a little uncomfortable, and scary, I admit. But it was just a Boggart. And I'm fine"
"Alright then, let's go and finish clearing away dinner".
Sara forced a smile, and followed Sirius back towards the kitchen, trying to focus on anything but her friends murders.
She had not forgotten about the people she had lost, but having them brought to the forefront of her mind again, did nothing to improve her already fragile state of mind.