Connections

Chapter 2: You Learn Something New…

Harry looked up at the clock as the numbers changed and now read 7:14 a.m. He took a deep breath and stepped into the fire place, immediately getting the dizzying feeling of rushing through the floo network. Harry closed his eyes, watching the rapidly changing views of a variety of wizard fireplaces always made him sick to his stomach. He felt himself come to a stop and fell forward into a large black dog.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?" Harry asked as his Godfather transfigured into his human form. Then he looked around. They were alone in the living room of the Burrow.

"Well- Harry - it had something to do with your note," Sirius paused as he started walking toward his Godson, "I think it was something about-‘it’s where I should be’ that did it for me. That and the fact that Ron wrote me and mentioned that you didn’t seem very excited to be spending almost the whole summer at the Burrow with your friends." Sirius reached down and assisted Harry to his feet. He saw Harry’s reddened eyes and blotchy face, "He’s been crying," Sirius thought.

He took a deep breath and continued, "I know things haven’t been easy- I don’t think I would have handled all thistoo well myself- but- you do know that there are quite a few people who care a great deal about you, who would miss you dearly had you not arrived here this morning."

Harry just hung his head and sighed. His vision was beginning to blur with tears. He bit his lip determined to stop crying.

"Ron and all the Weasleys were really worried too, Harry. I don’t know what you had in mind but I can tell you some of the speculation here last night was pretty grim," Sirius said as he reached awkwardly and placed his arm around Harry’s shoulders.

Harry took a deep breath again and said, "I was thinking of running away. I’ve hurt so many people- I thought it’s only going to get worse- but…"

Sirius interrupted, "You- hurt- you, Harry, have not hurt anyone. Voldemort is evil and he is to blame- not you, Harry. It has never been your fault." Sirius held Harry’s chin forcing him to make eye contact as he continued, "Not his resurrection, not Cedric- and especially not your parents- Harry, it has all been Voldemort."

Harry sank down towardsthe floor sobbing. Sirius sat down next to him and embraced Harry, who began crying ontohis Godfather’s shoulder, "It just seems like so many people have gotten hurt because of me- I thought if I left then no one else I care about would have to suffer or worse…"

Sirius shook his head as he lifted Harry’s chin again to look him in the face, "Harry- you’re looking at this all backwards. Have you ever stopped to consider how many lives you have saved, just by being there? I know you hate the title, but you aren’t the ‘famous Harry Potter’ because you were just there. Harry, you are special and the world would be much worse without you. You never asked for any of this, Harry, and none of this is your fault."

Harry smiled briefly and wiped his eyes with his faded, over-sized t-shirt. He looked around the Weasleys’ living room and asked, "Where is everyone? Usually this place is crawling with redheads."

"Oh- well some are sleeping. It’s still early and most of us were up quite late, but I suspect that there is at least one anxious redhead behind that door over there," Sirius answered as he indicated the door leading to the Weasley’s kitchen.

Harry looked at his Godfather, stood up, took a few deep breaths and crossed the room to enter the kitchen. When he opened the door, he was suddenly very happy he had taken those deep breaths because he was instantly swept up into the arms of Molly Weasley, Ron’s mother, as she gave him the strongest hug he had ever received. "Oh Harry, I’m so glad you made it. I was so worried- we all were," she paused just long enough to pull him away to look in his face and then pulled him back into her strong embrace, "We are so glad to have you with us." Harry was laughing despite the discomfort.

"Ma, let go. You’re going to suffocate him," Ron said to his mother, "Mum, come on. He’s going to go right back to the Dursleys if you keep this up." Ron walked over and patted Harry on the back as his mother released him. Harry noticed her eyes were red like she had been crying and there were dark circles under her eyes. "Come on Harry before she hugs you again. I’ll help you get your trunk. As usual you’ll be bunking down with me."

Mr. Weasley patted Harry on the back and smiled as they walked past, "Don’t be too long boys and, Ron, wake your brothers and Ginny.Your mum has prepared a nice breakfast for us all."

As they reached the first landing the door to the right was open a crack. Harry could see Ginny standing behind the door as they climbed the steps. Ron reached the landing first and began banging on the door to the left, "Wake up Perce, Mum’s got breakfast."

Harry waved at Ginny as he reached the landing. To his surprise she swung open the door and hugged him quickly, "Harry I’m so glad you made it. We were all so worried."

Harry felt his face warm and wondered if it was as red as Ginny’s was, "Uh- Thanks, Ginny, I’m glad I made it here too."

Ron was muttering softly under his breath, "… Getting bolder... least she’s not hiding and screeching anymore…" Harry laughed a little as he picked up one end of his trunk and climbed up the stairs to the next landing.

Harry knocked on the door to the right to wake the twins who came bouncing out of the room and almost knocked Harry down the stairs as they roughly ruffled his hair. "Hey you made it -great," George said.

"Yeah," Fred added. "We thought we might have to take out an add in the Daily Prophet for a lost Harry."

The twins stopped just before the stairs. George turned and held out a handful of small wrapped hard candies, " Want one? They’re new."

"I wouldn’t if I were you," warned an older voice coming out of the opposite room. Harry brightened as he saw Charlie coming his way and thought, "Maybe we’ll get a pick up game of Quidditch later."

Bill, Ron’s oldest brother with the long hair and earring that all the girls thought was cool, joined them and said, "I’d be careful with those two- I ate one of their candies without thinking and was turned purple for three hours- right before a date."

"Aww," Fred retorted, "You lot spoil all our fun."

"Yeah- we were only having fun- besides Fleur said the you looked good in purple," George added doing a very poor imitation of Fleur Delacour’s French accent.

"Harry, we better hurry or there won’t be much food left with that lot already headed down the stairs," Ron warned as he picked up one side of Harry’s trunk and prepared to climb the final flight to his room. Harry grabbed his end of the trunk and hurried behind Ron. As they entered Ron’s brightly colored room Harry thought, "Doesn’t he ever get sick of all the orange?" Ron was anything but a closet Chudley Cannons fan, a Quidditch team that wore orange. Ron had almost every blank wall space covered with banners and posters. Even his bead spread was Cannon orange with their team emblem across the front. They put Harry’s trunk at the foot of the cot on which he would be sleeping. Harry was thankful had a simple blue spread.

Ron looked over at Harry,who was checking to make sure nothing had broken in his trunk, "Harry- is everything okay?"

"Yes," Harry answered still looking through his trunk, "I guess I was just confused, but I know now that I made the right decision, and you know, I’m really glad your parents worked it out so I could stay here this summer." Harry paused and walked to the door, "Even if I can beat you down stairs and get more food."

Harry ran out the door. "Hey that’s not fair," Ron called as he went bounding down the stairs after his friend.

The nine Weasleys, Harry and all piled around the table for breakfast. Harry looked around and smiled as he watched the Weasley boys elbow one another, argue over food and all talk at once. Ron leaned to Harry to be heard without screaming, "Hermione will be here on Wednesday and Penelope Clearwater- you know that Ravenclaw Percy was caught snogging with- will be here on Friday."

Percy overheard his youngest brother and was blushing slightly as he stood, "Mum- thank you that was delightful, but I must head into the office- no rest for the hard working." Charlie and Bill were rolling their eyes and making faces as Percy Apparated to the Ministry.

"Arthur, he works too much- is there anything you can do about this," Mrs. Weasley asked her husband, "Poor Penelope is going to feel out of place if he keeps popping off to work while she is visiting."

"I’ll talk to him about it- but you know Percy- my asking him to pace himself more is no guarantee that he will listen," Mr. Weasley told his wife. Then noticing her look of concern added, " They are planning on transferring him to the Office of Improper Use of Magic, Juvenile Division by this fall so that should slow him down a bit."

"Hey mum- can we have a friend or two over too?" Fred asked.

"Yeah mum- everyone else is- we could just have them bunk down with us in our room," George added.

"And they won’t eat much," Fred said grinning.

"I thought you said that Lee was visiting relatives in the states for the summer," Mrs. Weasley said as she got up to get more sausages not really paying attention to the twins.

"Oh, he hasn’t left yet, Mum, but we were thinking of some other friends," George said. This got Mrs. Weasley’s confused attention. "We were thinking of Katie and Angelina," Fred added.

Mrs. Weasley’s confused look melted into one of anger, "Well I can’t believe- boys- we have company," she said as she motioned her head toward Sirius and Harry.

Mr. Weasley turned to Sirius, "You’ll have to excuse the boys- they have no manners and seem to delight in angering their mother."

"Oh- it’s really quite alright- now I know why my mum always seemed to be red in the face when I was around. I am surprised that she didn’t pickle me and use me in some potion," Sirius answered.

Mrs. Weasley laughed, "Yes, I seem to recall a few shenanigans you got yourself into that make this lot look like angels."

Harry smiled, enjoying learning the new information about is Godfather. Mrs. Weasley noticed the smile and added, " I understand James was in on many of those adventures that should have earned you a pickling, Sirius," then turning to her own sons, "Really you two do try my patience, but it has been nothing in comparison to what Sirius and his friends did to their poor parents."

"You hear that, Fred- now we are going to have work harder when we go back to school- it being our seventh year and all," George said trying to see if his mother’s face would become crimson again.

"Yes, George, I do believe we have our work cut out for us, dear brother," Fred replied.

The twins both quit snickering when they noticed the particular shade of crimson their mother was turning as she said, "Oh- if it is work you are interested in you can start by clearing the table of the breakfast dishes and when you are done the garden could use a good de-gnoming."

Ron and Harry attempted unsuccessfully to stifle the giggles. Charlie leaned closerto his chastised younger brothers and said, "You two really need to learn when to stop pushing. You would think that you might have picked up a thing or two from watching Bill. He’s de-gnomed that garden so many times that when he walks out there the poor creatures just throw themselves in the air when they see him."

Bill lightheartedly punched Charlie in the shoulder, "I seem to recall you sending your fair share of gnomes flying over the garden wall yourself."

"Yes, Bill, I did my share of de-gnoming- but not nearly as often as you did- which is the point I was trying to make to those two," Charlie responded laughing. Then he turned to Harry and asked, "You up for a pick up game of Quidditch later? Percy never plays anymore but with you we could play three on three."

Sirius turned to Ginny, "Do you share the Weasley Quidditch talent? Because if you play then I’ll join in and the game will be better with four on four."

Ginny turned a few shades of red, but it was Charlie who answered, "Actually, Sirius, my little sister is probably the best Chaser you’ll ever see."

Harry didn’t think it possible, but Ginny turned an even darker shade of red. He looked at his best friend’s younger sister and thought, "Wow- there does seem to be a lot to Ginny than her just being Ron’s baby sister I never knew she could fly much less play Quidditch." He looked at Ginny again and flushed when he thought, "She really isn’t a baby anymore either."

Ginny’s coloring was returning to normal, until she noticed Harry staring and then he smiled at her. When she smiled in return, they both flushed again.

Bill nudged Harry from his thoughts of Ginny when he asked, "What have you been eating at the Dursleys? It looks like you put on a good twenty pounds since school let out."

Harry was confused at first. He ate less at the Dursleys than at Hogwarts then said, "I don’t know -I guess it’s from the work I’ve been doing around the Dursleys house. You know gardening and cleaning out the yard. I just finished painting the house yesterday."

"That explains the tan too. You did all that work yourself- without magic?" Charlie asked Harry who nodded his reply, "You’ll want to keep up the exercise this summer or you’ll pay when you start playing Quidditch in the fall." Charlie got up and brought the last few dishes from the table to his brothers at the sink and said, "Personally, I think Mum wasn’t thinking when she assigned the dishes to the two of you." Fred and George just smiled mischievously.

"If you want to, Harry, I go running each morning. You can join me tomorrow and that way you won’t lose any ground," Charlie asked.

"That’d be great- what time should I meet you?" Harry asked. Charlie told him to be ready atsix.

"Well don’t wake me up when you leave the room," Ron said.

"I’m with you baby brother- do you know that idiot actually woke me up yesterday at 5 a.m. to see if I wanted to go run with him- I had only been home for like three hours. I don’t have to run much to break curses for Gringotts you know!" Bill said in agreement.

Sirius added, "Well I tend to get my exercise in a different form than most but it’s proven to keep me agile enough."

"Well I guess a game of fetch the stick is really not what you were talking about, Charlie?" Harry saidas Sirius smiled then ruffled Harry’s hair.

Sirius stood, stretched and yawned, "I think I might go lie down for a bit- someone kept me up most of the night worrying," he said as he ruffled Harry’s hair again.

"Hey come on- your gonna mess up my hair," Harry said and smiled, "besides, didn’t you say that it wasn’t my fault?"

"That wasn’t what I meant," Sirius started to explain but stopped when he saw the grin on his Godson’s face, "You know, Harry, your father had the same grin when he was planning mischiefso you hadbetter watch out- it’s a look I know all to well."

* * * * *

After lunch they headed out to play a pick up game of Quidditch in the small field behind the house. The game would be shielded from muggle view by the landscape of the surrounding trees and, Harry suspected, by at least a few muggle-repelling charms. They planned to play in teams of four. Sirius, Harry, George and Ginny would make up one team playing Keeper, Seeker, Beater, and Chaser respectively. The other team was made up of Ron as Keeper, Charlie as Seeker, Fred as Beater, and Bill as Chaser.

Charlie surprised them all when he brought out a box containing a complete set of Quidditch balls. He removed the Quaffle, one Bludger and the Snitch.

"Oi- Charlie, where did you get those?" Ron asked excitedly.

"I borrowed them from a friend. We’ll only use one Bludger." Charlie said.

"What friend do you have that owns a complete set of regulation Quidditch balls and will let you borrow them?" Ron asked again.

"Don’t worry about it, Ron- you’ll find out soon enough. Come on everyone- let’s do a little warm up flying before we start the game," Charlie said as he walked on the field.

After a brief strategy discussion by both teams,the eight far from professional Quidditch players, took to the air. Harry felt free as he flew around doing a few sharp turns, cuts, dives and even a loop toloop. Everyone else did a few moves too,but the only player besides Charlie to match Harry in complexity was Ginny.

Harry watched as Ginny used Percy’s old Clean Sweep 250 like it was a Firebolt- not quite as fast but she certainly did fly like a natural. Charlie flew beside Harry who was watching her intently, " Told you she was good."

"How come she never tried out for our house team? She’s great. I never even knew she could fly like that," Harry said as he continued watching his friend with a look of awe on his face. He had to turn almost completely around as she dove next to him, "I just don’t believe- I mean wow!"

Charlie laughed and said, "Hey, Harry, don’t forget that the Snitch doesn’t have long red hair and brown eyes- you do remember it is the small golden ball with the wings."

Harry smirked at Charlie as he blushed but he did remain somewhat distracted by his new team mate. He was very glad to have her on his team too as he watched her swerve to miss a Bludger and steal the Quaffle from Bill who had been distracted with concern over the safety of his baby sister. Ginny aimed for the goal but the ball was blocked easily by Ron.

Harry seeing the save, looked over at Fred and George who must have been thinking the same thing that he was thinking, "The Gryffindors have a new keeper." The only Quidditch team member not returning to the Gryffindor team next year was their captain and Keeper, Oliver Wood. He had finished his seventh and final year at Hogwarts two years before and his departure would leave a hole in the team roster.Last year they had not played Quidditch due to the Triwizard tournament so no replacement was ever sought for the spot.

Bill was able to score easily against Sirius who hadn’t played Quidditch in at least thirteen years, "Hey, don’t worry about it," then shouted to the twin Beaters, "You two do know that you are playing on two different teams today!"

Fred and George had fallen into their all too familiar routine as Beaters for the Gryffindors and had been working together in their attempts to knock the other players off of their brooms.

Harry watched from high above the others, surveying the pitch for the Golden Snitch. But he also couldn’t help tokeep his eye off Ginny,who was taking another shot that was blocked by Ron but quickly recaptured the Quaffle and shot again. This time Harry yelled as she scored ten points for his team.

Harry almost missed the snitch when it appeared beneath Sirius. He chanced a glance at Charlie who hadn’t seen its arrival. Ron and George were arguing over the last ten-point goal and it distracted him. Harry’s grin turned to a determined sneer as he turned his broom to dive for the snitch. Charlie noticed his sudden movement and set off in a rapid dive in attempt to beat Harry to the small ball that would win the game with its capture.

Charlie was trying to catch Harry but his Nimbus was not a match for Harry’s Firebolt and the head start.

Harry knew Charlie wasn’t far behind as he reached his hand out and grasped the small, slippery Snitch. Harry held up the gold winged ball as he set to circle the field for a victory lap. As he flew around Harry couldn’t believe that he actually thought about leaving this world, his friends---his family behind. He suddenly couldn’t imagine himself living as a muggle as easily as he had just a day before.

Harry finished his lap and landed on the ground with the other seven players. Harry looked at George,a little puzzled who was jumping up and down screaming, "Yes- Yes!"

"Gee –uh, George, aren’t you just a bit excited about the win. I mean I’m happy and all but it’s just a pick up game in your back yard." Harry asked as he backed away a bit from his friend and teammate.

Ginny came up beside Harry and laughed and put an arm around his shoulder and said, "When the Weasleys play a Sunday Quidditch game,the losing team does all of the winning team’s chores for the next week." She blushed when she realized her arm was around Harry, "You see- Bill, Charlie, Ron, and Fred have to do all our work next week."

When she finished the explanation George actually did a little dance as he looked at his brothers and said, "Nah- Nah Na-Nah- Nah!"

Sirius laughed at his performance and said, "I’m glad I was on the winning team. I would have just hated to leave all the work to my team mates." He looked at the disgruntled losing team and said, "Look at it this way, the four of you only have to do the work of the three on this team, not four. And, I doubt your mother has all that much worked assigned to Harry. So you four just really have Ginny’s and George’s work to do."

Miss Weasley shouted from the porch for everyone to come inside to get cleaned up before dinner, "Come on, get going, you all need showers and there are only two bathrooms," she moved aside to allow the sweaty players to enter, "Supper will be at six this evening."

Sirius grabbed Harry by the shoulder to hold him back for a minute, "Harry, I need get going now."

"But you said you weren’t going until after dark," Harry said as he gave his Godfather a disappointed look.

"I’m sorry, Harry, but I will try to make it down for your birthday," Sirius told him. Harry’s face brightened a bit as he thought of spending his fifteenth birthday with his Godfather and all of his friends.

"Well I guess that will be okay. Are you sure you have to leave so soon?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded his answer then ruffled Harry’s hair and told him, "Your birthday shouldbe a new experience this year- being away from the Dursleys and all." Then added, "Send my good byes to your friends- I’ve already spoken to Molly and Arthur."

"Where are you going?" Harry asked being concerned for Sirius’ safety. He knew that his Godfather was still a wanted man in both the wizarding and muggle worlds. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Don’t worry, Harry. I’m staying with friends and Dumbledore is making sure that I stay hidden. How about you, Harry? Are you going to be okay now?" Sirius asked. As he looked him in the face he flashed back to the Harry’s parents. He could see so much of his two friends in his face. Harry was definitely both James’ and Lily’s son.

Harry broke him from his memories, "I’m fine- I think that the Quidditch match was just the thing I needed. There’s nothing quite like flying. I was really thinking about leaving and now I can’t imagine being gone."

Sirius smiled at Harry, "Promise me that you will talk to someone the next time you get those feelings again, Harry- It doesn’t have to be me- just know that you are not alone and you have people who love you and care about you."

"I will, Sirius, I guess it was just a bit too much all at once then having to go back to the Dursleys," Harry answered.

"I was a little worried about you going to stay with them but it really was the safest place, Harry- Well enough of all that. You behave yourself and listen to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Sirius said as he looked at Harry.

Harry laughed and then hugged his Godfather. Sirius smiled at Harry and turned away walking to the tree line where mid-step he simply Apparated away.