Harry Potter and the Dance of the Warrior

Chapter 3: In Hiding

The Weasleys all sat around in their cozy living room. Mr. Weasley and Bill were having a quiet game of chess, occasionally discussing the news of the day. Fred, George, and Ron sat together on the hearth rug, discussing new products for W.W.W., and concerns about being shorthanded when Ron went back to school.

Fred, jokingly said, "You should quit school now, Ron, come to work with us full time." He had a sly look on his face, as he waited for the glare from his mum.

George, grinning, quickly said, "Just joking, Mum."

Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were sitting happily on the couch discussing details for Bill and Fleur's upcoming wedding, when from the quiet night, there erupted a loud boom from the lane in front of the Burrow. Mr. Weasley and Bill were up in instant, wands drawn, and crossed over to the window. The rest of the family was up a second later, also drawing their wands, all except Ginny, who had left her wand up in her bedroom.

"It's the Knight bus, but who..." Arthur Weasley began.

He and Bill went cautiously out the front door, to see who the unexpected visitor was. Fred and George took defensive positions just inside the door, one to each side. Ron slipped out to follow his father and eldest brother, ignoring his mother's hiss to stay inside. They approached the bus as a young woman with lots of bushy brown hair was descending the steps. When she looked up and saw Ron, she ran to him, throwing her arms around him, and burst into hysterical tears.

" 'Mione, what's wrong, what's happened?" Ron asked in a shaky voice. But she couldn't say. Her face was buried in his chest, holding onto him tightly.

Stan, the conductor of the bus, was just unloading Hermione's trunk. He looked at them with frank curiosity.

Mr. Weasley quickly thanked him and said, "Bill, get her trunk and Crookshanks' basket."

Bill nodded, wordlessly aimed his wand at the trunk, and picked up the basket, as Mr. Weasley steered his youngest son and his friend back into the house.

Mrs. Weasley, upon seeing Hermione's state, took control of the situation. She put a motherly arm around her shoulders and led them all into the kitchen.

"Ginny, will you make tea, please," she said as they all sat at the large kitchen table.

It took several minutes before Hermione could get control of herself, the whole time clutching Ron's hand like a lifeline.

Ron helped her sip her tea as Mrs. Weasley said, "Hermione dear, what has happened?" her voice was soothing.

Hermione looked up as tears continued to stream down her face. She said in a shaky voice, "I. . . I didn't know what else to do. I. . . I got a telephone call from Harry."

She proceeded to tell them everything Harry said, leaving out Ginny's part. Everyone at the table was pale and shocked. The other two women now had tears spilling, as much for the danger Harry was in as for the sentiments he sent to them. As she finished her story, her hand never leaving Ron's, they all heard a voice coming from the living room.

"Arthur... Arthur are you there?" It was Mad Eye Moody's voice.

The entire family plus Hermione quickly rose from the table into the adjoining room.

"I'm here Alastor."

"Ah. Good Arthur, I've got some news." The growling voice said from the head in the fireplace.

"Yes, we just heard about Harry. . ."

Mad Eye cut him off, "Potter's there?"

"No, no, Hermione got a pheletone call from Harry, before he left; she just arrived on the Knight Bus."

Moody nodded, before he continued, Ginny pushed her way to the front, tears streaming down her face, asked in a small, quivering voice, "Is Harry. . ."

"No, no, he's alive, I got there with the Aurors, near the end of the battle, he was pretty well beat up, but he refused to go to St Mungo's," he then paused and said with a sigh, "he also refused an escort. . ."

They all looked at his disconnected head in the fire, "We don't know where Harry is."

Harry was high in air; the moonless night still around him. He couldn't get his Firebolt up to top speed--the weight of his trunk was slowing him down a bit, but he was still making very good time. For a while, just being on his broom, he was able to forget about his hurts, for a little while at least. After all this was the first time he was on a broom since the Slytherin match at school nearly a year ago. No matter how much he hurt he couldn't resist a few high speed maneuvers. He considered his options on where to go now as he flew.

He had several ideas on where to hide out. His first idea on where to hide was Hogwarts; he would fly to Hogsmeade, break into Honeydukes, and use the secret passage to get directly into his school. He could use his invisibility cloak to let Dobby know he was there, and arrange for food, and then he could hide in the Chamber of Secrets. That was perfect, as far as he knew only he and Voldemort were the only ones to able get in there. He doubted Voldemort would try to take the school, especially with no students there to use as hostages.

'If it comes to a fight again, I want to fight where I know best,' he thought, 'Hogwarts is definitely my only home turf.'

His plan, at least for that night, quickly changed as he realized he was in no condition to fly that far. He couldn't and wouldn't go to the Burrow, it might be watched, and he refused to put the Weasleys in danger. So for tonight that left Sirius's house in London. He adjusted his course, and started towards Grimmauld place.

After an hour or so of hard flying, his joy of being in the air faded, Harry cursed himself for forgetting to put a cloak on or at least gloves. His hands and face were beginning to numb. He didn't mind his face numb though, it was better than the throbbing.

'But my hands, if I run into any trouble. . .' With that thought still in his mind, he saw a flash of gold and scarlet off to his right, several yards away.

Harry jerked up hard on his broom, coming to a dead stop and pulled out his wand. It nearly slipped from his numb fingers. He spun on his broom, to face the unknown. His eyes staring hard, he sought the source of the flash of color.

"Nothing. . . what the hell was that?" he whispered.

'Maybe I'm just seeing things,' he thought, just as he heard something behind him.

Harry whirled again, and again saw nothing.

"What the hell. . ." Then he saw it, it wasn't an attack. It was a. . Phoenix. It was fluttering down from its higher position and hovered a few feet in front of him.

"Fawkes?" he said, paused and then said, "No, you're not Fawkes, are you?"

He didn't know how he knew. It was really too dark to see the magical bird clearly, but somehow just knew it wasn't Dumbledore's pet.

"Who are you, then?" he asked the stunning creature.

In response the Phoenix began to sing softly. As always when he heard its kind of song, he felt stronger, more at peace.

"Well, I still have a long way to go tonight; would you like to join me for a while?" Harry asked hopefully.

It was a comfort to not be alone. He wasn't sure if the bird understood, or would come, but as he leaned forward on his broom, he felt the tip of a feather brush his face. It was coming.

After a few minutes, the Phoenix began a slow loop around Harry. The air became softer; the wind in the circle became warmer, and didn't roar in his ears as it had before. Harry began to talk to the bird, to pass the time. It sang a soft song, which lent him the strength to continue.

After a time he said, "Well I don't know who you belong to, but you need a name if I'm going to keep talking to you." The scarlet bird paused in its current loop and looked at him. "Well, my name is Harry, Harry Potter, I think. . ."

"I think I'll call you Falcore, what do you think? Do you like it?" it responded with a louder song, and continued its circuit around him.

Harry smiled, even though it hurt to do so, and continued to chat aimlessly with the bird, as they sped along towards London.

After several hours he neared 12 Grimmauld Place, concentrating hard on the address. He quickly descended from his high altitude. By concentrating while he was descending the house had already appeared when he landed. Not taking the time to disconnect the harness, he laid his broom on top of his trunk and levitated both using his open hand. He drew his wand with the other, and quickly walked to the door. Once there he tapped on it three times with his wand. He heard the multiple locks click, and the door slowly opened. He was closely followed by Falcore, who swooped in after him. He closed the door quickly and silently, and leaned back against it with an audible sigh. He stood in the hallway for just a minute, when he noticed dim light from dancing flames coming from the living room.

"Damn, someone's staying here," he whispered. Harry really didn't feel like answering a bunch of questions right now.

With another audible sign, he lifted his hand again, floating his trunk a few inches off the floor, and proceeded down the hall. He stopped at the doorway to the living room. The fireplace was giving off a soft light; his heart leapt in his chest as he saw Ginny curled up on one of the overstuffed chairs.

He was about to say something when her eyes opened. She gasped and paused only a second before racing across the room, tearing filling her eyes.

"Oh, Harry," she moaned, as she threw her arms around him.

Harry groaned, "Ginny please. . ." he said this with his own tears filling his eyes, though his were mostly from the pain racing through him.

Ginny must have heard the pain in his voice because she pulled away from him quickly, giving him a stricken look.

She began to cry harder, when Harry reached out a hand and gently cupped her cheek.

"It's alright Ginny, don't cry. I'm telling you; under normal circumstances I would be very happy to have your arms around me," he gave her a painful grin.

She gave him a small watery smile in return.

"Ginny," he said, his voice quiet and sounding quite exhausted, "what are you doing here?"

She reached out a hand and grasped his, squeezing slightly, as if to further reassure herself that he was actually there. "Hermione came to the Burrow, told us what happened. Then Mad-Eye gave us a firecall, told us that you survived," she was crying harder now, "but he didn't know where were."

She paused, trying to get control of herself. "Harry, you look awful, we. . . we should get you to St. Mungo's now."

Her eyes were red and puffy, tears were still streaming down her face, and her hair was frizzy and all over the place, but the firelight made it glow red. She looked beautiful.

"Shh. . ." he said. He leaned over carefully and placed a light kiss on her lips.

"Ouch," he whispered.

She giggled slightly at this, her cheeks blushing.

"That's better; I love to see a smile on your face," he gave her a smile in return, "but you didn't say why you were here." He sat down on top on his trunk as his legs were really dead.

"Oh, well. . ." Then something caught her eye. "Is that Dumbledore's bird?" she asked in some confusion.

"No, he just sort of followed me home. I don't know who he belongs to, but I've been calling him Falcore," he continued in a soft voice, "it was nice to have someone to fly here with me."

"Oh, ok. Well, after we spoke to Mad Eye; Ron, Hermione, and I convinced Mum and Dad to let us come here and wait for you, in case you turned up. She, dad, and Bill are waiting at the Burrow, the twins are at the Leaky Cauldron, and Professor McGonagall is waiting to see if you turned out at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore was out of the country today, in Paris, trying to rally support."

"So that's why they chose today. . ." Harry said absently.

She continued, "We're supposed to give Mum a firecall if you turn up."

"Fine," he said, "but can you convince her not to come tonight? Tell her I just want to sleep. I don't want her to see me like this," his voice was slightly pleading.

"But we should get you to the hospital, Harry."

"I'm fine; really, I just can't deal with anymore today."

She gave him an uncertain look, but then agreed, "Ok, you just sit there and rest. I'll convince Mum." She gave his hand a last squeeze then went over to the fireplace.

She knelt down on the hearth rug, and leaned in. Harry just got a good look at what she was wearing, and his heart gave a little jump. She was wearing a light summer nightdress, which stopped just above her knees. Harry's face flushed, and didn't realize she was done with the call.

"Mum says the Order will be here for a meeting and to see you at around nine in the morning."

She looked worriedly at Harry's expression, and when his full attention returned to her face he was blushing furiously. Ginny then realized what had held his attention, returned his blush, and took his hand again. She wasn't really too embarrassed, but she was very pleased that he could be as hurt as he was and she still had that effect on him.

"Ginny, do you think you can help me clean up and dress my wounds?" he asked her in a quiet, hesitant voice, without looking at her face. He was distressed at having to ask for her help.

"Of course I will, Harry," she said softly, "you don't even have to ask. Here, let me unstrap your broom and we can go upstairs."

Harry stood. Falcore, floated down onto his shoulder, he raised his trunk again, and Ginny gave him a look of surprise at the wandless magic.

"I told you I've been training hard," he said with a sly smile.

Harry limped up the stairs with Ginny right behind him, her hand on the small of his back, as if she was worried he would collapse.

When they reached the second floor she said quietly, "Ron is in the room you two share and Hermione is in ours. Where should we go?"

"Lets go upstairs, I think I'm gonna stay in Sirius' room for now," he said in a sad voice.

And they trudged up the next set of stairs. Harry paused when they reached Sirius's door, with his hand on the knob. Falcore let out a little quavering note, which sent warmth to his heart, and gave him a bit of support.

With a small sigh he opened the door. The room smelled stuffy, but it was just as Sirius had left it.

Harry floated the trunk to a clear space by the window and set it down. He then opened the window a few inches to let in some fresh air.

Ginny walked over to the corner of the room, picked up the stool that was there and brought it closer to the desk for Harry to sit on. When he approached her, she raised her hands, and wordlessly began to remove his robes. When they were off, she and Harry saw the dried blood soaked through the black t-shirt he was wearing.

"This is going to hurt, Harry; the shirt is stuck to all the wounds."

She slowly pulled his shirt up as he clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut with the pain of it.

"Oh. . .Harry," she moaned, tears in her voice again.

He opened his eyes and looked down to see his chest and midsection covered in bruises, welts and cuts, some of which were very deep.

"We can take care of them, no problem!" he said in a bright voice, hoping she wouldn't bring up the hospital again.

Harry pulled a ring with five keys from his hip pocket and carefully sunk down onto the stool.

"Ok, Ginny, are you alright to help me?" He was looking at how much she paled after seeing his chest. He seriously hoped she wouldn't faint, he knew he had no chance to catch her.

With a stricken face she said, "Yes Harry, just tell me what to do."

He chose one key out of the ring, and handed it to her.

"Open the middle keyhole and lift the lid." She looked at him curiously when he said this. She obviously had never seen a sorcerer's trunk before, but she went over and opened it.

That compartment was where he kept his potion equipment as well as the potions he had already mixed.

"There is a large copper pan in there. Bring that, as well as the Mason jar filled with the blue cream and the long thin bottle filled with the red potion."

She quickly found the items, placing them on the desk next to him. With his wand he filled the pan with hot steaming water.

"Could you get a wash cloth out of the bathroom there?" He motioned to the door that led to the adjoining room.

She returned with it after a minute. While she was out of the room, Harry made a very complex motion with his wand and a thick red mist began to ooze out. He held in over his legs first, then his chest and middle, then finally both his arms. His whole body was covered in the red mist.

Ginny gave him a curious look; he said, "Just watch it a few moments."

Suddenly a thin blue line appeared on his shin, and a few seconds later there was a blue blob on his right side.

"Small fracture in my leg and, damn, I thought as much, at least two broken ribs," after another minute he continued, "but no internal bleeding. Well, that's something,"

He looked over at her, and saw her eyes shining; Harry gave her a weak smile as she walked over to him. He opened the thin bottle, filled the cap with the potion, and drank it down. He repeated this, pulled a face and said, "Some blood replenishing potion."

"Why do you even have that?" she asked.

He gave her a tired smile and simply said, "Rough summer."

She stared at him a long minute, then dipped the cloth into the hot water. She began to bathe his wounds thoroughly, being as careful as possible. Harry tried not to flinch too much, but he heard Ginny crying as she watched him in so much obvious pain. Many of the wounds opened again, and the water was quickly thick with blood.

With tears in his eyes, he stopped her. "Ok, that's enough for now; we have to get the worst ones closed."

"Ok Harry, tell me what to do next." It pained Harry's heart to hear the distress in her voice; hopefully he could distract her a little.

"Actually, I was hoping Falcore could give me a little help." He looked over to the owl perch near the window, where the stunning bird sat. "Falcore?" he said hopefully.

The Phoenix took off from the perch and floated down to Harry's knee. He looked over at Ginny to see the curiosity pushing its way through the tears.

"Just watch." And she did, and gasped as Falcore's tears dripped on the four largest wounds, and they healed immediately.

After the fourth wound, which was on the side of his head, Falcore gave a mournful chirp.

Harry stroked its long neck, and said, "No more tears left? That's ok; I can take care of the rest. Thank you Falcore."

He looked over to see Ginny's awed look and shocked smile.

Harry returned her smile, and said, "Just a few more then. I'll need your help again. I'll show you what to do on the cuts I can reach, ok?"

She nodded.

"Do you have your wand on you?"

She nodded again.

"Good. Ok, this is the wand movement you need to do." He showed her with his own.

She came closer to watch what he did. As he slowly ran his wand over a cut, holding it less than an inch above, an ordinary-looking scab appeared, except it was bright purple.

She was watching raptly. As he got to the last reachable cut, he asked her to close it so he could guide her hand as she tried to magically close wounds for the first time.

She gave him a satisfied smile as she finished and said, "I've never seen anything like this before."

He returned her smile, and said, "You have a very smooth touch Ginny. It's magical first aid--not quite as good as Madame Pomfrey, but it does the job."

She flushed a little at his compliment.

"Think you can handle the last three? I really don't fancy trying to do it in a mirror."

"Don't be silly Harry, I can close them fine."

And she did his left shoulder and two other small ones, on his lip and on his cheek.

She looked closely at him, to inspect her work, then moved her face closer, and gave him a very soft kiss on his lips. "Better now?" she whispered.

All he could do was smile at her and stare into her eyes. They stayed that way more than a minute before the spell was broken, broken by the pain he still was in.

He looked away first and said softly, "Alright, we really need to finish," he gave her a sly smile and said, "It's already hard enough to breathe, without your help."

He couldn't help but laugh softly as she blushed to the roots of her hair.

"Can you help me spread this salve over the welts and bruises, please, and then I need to take care of my ribs."

She nodded, picked up the jar and opened it. She scrunched up her nose as she got the first whiff of it.

He chuckled softly, "I know it smells bad, works good though. Takes the edge off the pain and loosens stiff muscles."

She gave him a look that clearly said she was going to ask again why he had the salve, but then thought better of it and began to apply it liberally.

Harry had tears in his eyes again, and noticed when she was finished that she did too.

"Thanks Ginny, now I have to bind my ribs. I don't mind telling you that I'm not looking forward to this." He said the last with dread in his voice.

She took up his hand, to lend him strength. He smiled gratefully at her, before looking down, tapping the area with the broken ribs three times, and muttered, "Ferrulla."

Wide bandages sprang from the end of his wand. He couldn't help crying out as they tightened around his midsection. The room spun and he nearly fainted.

He regained his senses several long minutes later, to find his face against Ginny's middle. Her arms were around him, stoking his hair and making soft comforting sounds. After another minute his breathing became more regular and he gently removed himself from Ginny's arms.

"See that wasn't so bad," he said in a falsely cheerful voice.

She gave him a wan smile and said, "I think we need to finish cleaning you up." She picked up the pan, and went into the bathroom; he heard her dumping it out and thoroughly rinsing it.

She replaced it onto the desk, and gave him a look. After a moment he gave her a return quizzical look in return. She said, "Well, fill it, silly," and gave him a mock exasperated sigh, "Honestly."

He gave her a smile that thankfully hurt a whole lot less, and proceeded to fill it with a fresh supply of steamy water.

She then began to give his long thick hair a thorough wash; she spent a long time tenderly brushing it out after. She found a piece of black silk ribbon in the bottom of a drawer (obviously a remnant of when Sirius kept his hair long), and tied it back in its loose ponytail.

She wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders, careful not to touch any bruises. She pressed her cheek against the side of his head, and she whispered in a dreamy voice, "You're not planning on cutting your hair are you, Harry?"

Harry's eyes were half closed, and even though still hurting, he felt content and safe with her arms around him. He answered is the same soft voice, "Not if you don't want me to, lovely lady."

Ginny's heart gave a little flutter at these words, and she squeezed him tighter and planted a firm kiss on an unbruised portion of his face.

After a minute of looking over his shoulder, she noticed the darker spots on his black jeans. "Harry, we haven't finished with all your wounds, have we? Didn't you also say you had a fracture too?" she said softly, "We should really do that now."

"I. . . uh. . . I was thinking I'd wait for Ron and Hermy, in the morning." Harry was embarrassed and then disappointed when he felt her arms leave him. He felt his face flushing.

He turned to look at her, and was surprised to see a hurt look on her face. "Ginny, what's wrong?" he said with concern and then a groan as he stood up too quickly.

She looked at him for a moment, noting his blushing cheeks, and said in a rather annoyed voice, "I understand if you're embarrassed to take your pants off in front of me. . . but why would you be able to in front of Hermione?"

He smiled now, understanding. In an understanding voice he said, "Ginny, if you saw Ron in his underwear would you be terribly uncomfortable?"

"No, of course not, Harry. You know how many brothers I have, it's not like they're exactly careful about it."

"If they saw you in your underwear, would you be terribly uncomfortable?"

"They would be, but me not really, I suppose. I am a lot more careful then the lot of them combined."

"You see, that's how I feel about Hermy, but with you it's. . . it's. . just different." And without really knowing why, he was blushing more than he ever had before.

Ginny's whole aspect changed. She no longer looked hurt and she was smiling broadly. She had a wonderful twinklely look in her eyes. She pause a moment, replaced her arms around him and planted a firmer kiss on his lips.

Then carefully laid her head on his shoulder and they stood there for long minutes, just holding each other. Harry had a blissful smile on his face, his eyes closed, the top of her head to his cheek.

She let out a small yawn and Harry directed her over to the bed. She was mostly asleep when they got there. He helped her lie down and pulled the covers over her.

Harry began to walk over to the desk; he paused at the large mirror first and for the first time got a good look at himself. He stopped and gaped. His face was puffy, the bruises still darkening, and the welts on his shoulders and chest stood out clearly. He was painful to look at.

After a minute he continued to the desk and pulled out the comfortable low backed chair. He let his mind wander; glancing at Ginny's sleeping face every so often, thinking about all the new feelings that he had never fully considered before. Sometime later, Falcore gave him a little chirp and apparated away. Harry assumed he went out for a nights hunt.

It was several hours later (Harry hadn't slept; it was too painful to even think of) when he heard movement on the floor below. He was looking through an old photo album and he was smiling softly. It was full of old wizarding photos. Just about every one was taken at Hogwarts and mostly featured pictures of his dad, Sirius and Remus, there were even a couple of his Mum.

He thought about getting up and telling Ron and Hermione that he was up here, but his body ached and his legs were so stiff.

After a few minutes, he heard Ron's voice at the end of the hall, "I'm telling you, that's his Firebolt in the hallway. He has to be here and Ginny must be with him."

Then Hermione's voice said, "Oh look, there's a light on in Sirius' room."

The voices were getting closer. He didn't want them to wake Ginny up, so with his wand he opened the door wide, just as the pair was about to knock.

They both gaped at him. Pain wracked both of their faces. At the look of him, Hermione, let out a little squeal, and launched herself at him, tears streaming down her face.

"Shh. . . I'm alright Hermione." He held her comfortingly in his arms.

"Shh. . . you'll wake Ginny." He glanced over to see she was still sleeping soundly.

Ron quietly said, "Yeah, we wondered where she was. When 'Mione woke up to use the loo and found the bed cold, she came and woke me."

Harry responded in kind, "She was in the living room when I got here. She helped me get fixed up, she was so tired. . ." he trailed off, as he looked at her again with a strange look.

He jerked his head back to his friends and was shocked to see a small happy smile on Ron's face. 'Strange. . .'

"Well, Ginny helped patch me up, but I was wondering though, would you two mind helping my patch up my legs?" He blushed slightly.

"Uh. . . we didn't get that far. . ." He blanched at what Ron would think of that, then quickly said, "I was just. . . uh. . . we didn't think it would be a good idea, me sitting here in my. . ." He broke off again, blushing more furiously. He chanced a glance at his two best friends and was shocked to find a pair of amused grins facing him.

Which made Harry blush even more and his friends let out low laughs.

"Well, are you going to help me, or what?" it was all he could think to say.

He hated to ask for help again, but he really had no choice.

Harry rose, and they helped him with his jeans. Ron cursed under his breath when he got a look at Harry's legs. Hermy had tears spilling down her face. He showed them the spells to use to fix him up.

Hermione was fascinated at learning these first aid spells and as usual grasped their use almost immediately.

Her touch wasn't as smooth as Ginny's, but he didn't tell her.

His legs weren't as bad as his chest, so they were done in no time. Harry handed Ron the key ring, asking him to lock the middle lock and then open the first lock. He looked curiously at Harry, but did it anyway.

"Blimey!" he said when he opened the trunk lid again, to find the contents completely changed.

"That's what you meant when you said you got around wizarding law to train; you bought a sorcerer's trunk!"

Harry had to grin at her. She always caught on so quickly. Ron was frowning though--he clearly didn't understand.

"Ron, hand me the brown robes. I don't think I want to try to manage trousers again today and then I'll explain about the training."

Ron brought them over and helped Harry to dress. "Ron, go back to the trunk and lock the first key. Then use this key to open the last."

Hermione walked over with him, and heard them both gasp when they got a glimpse of his 'Training ground'.

"Wow, Harry, this must have cost you a fortune," Hermione said.

"Yeah, between that and all the spell books, it did," after a pause, "Well worth it though, without them, I wouldn't be here right now," he said it a quiet, serious voice.

They all stood in silence until finally Ron said, "You want to talk about it, Harry?"

Harry was already limping across the room to them and said, "I'd rather not right now, Ron, we're going to have to go through it all again, in. . ." He glanced at his watch. "In about an hour."

Hermione put her arms around him, her eyes shining, "We were so scared Harry, we thought we lost you."

Ron made a small sound. They both turned to him and saw his eyes were also shining. They opened up their hug and he joined them. They stood there hugging for more than a minute when Harry leaned over and kissed Hermione's forehead and said, his voice choked up, "You two better go wash up. I need to go down and start a potion."

And they broke apart, each trying to discreetly wipe their eyes. Harry opened the third compartment again; pulled out the potion supplies he needed, put them all in his cauldron, and followed his friends to the door.

Before he got there though, Hermione said in a sly voice, "You know Harry, I've never noticed what nice legs you have--even with all the bruises--and all that training seems to have helped."

Harry stopped in his tracks, a blush creeping up his face.

He heard another sleepy voice that said, from the direction of the bed, "Yes Harry, I never noticed either."

Harry fled the room as his face grew even hotter and his two best friends got a good laugh at his expense.

Harry gingerly limped down the stairs. By the time he reached the kitchen level, he was sweating and panting with the effort. He took a minute to compose himself and then continued to the kitchen. He checked at the door. At the far end of the table, reading this morning's paper, sat his Potions Professor, Snape. Careful to control his temper, he said in a level voice, "Good morning Professor."

"Potter," replied Snape with his usual sneer.

'Well, that could have been worse,' he thought.

Harry walked over to a clear countertop and began to unpack his supplies. After filling his cauldron a quarter of the way with water, he hung it on a hook in the fireplace.

He drew his wand and muttered, "Incendio," a bright crackling fire appeared.

Harry walked back to the counter and began to chop and grind up ingredients, adding them to the cauldron at the proper intervals.

After ten minutes or so, Snape, said from behind him, "I see you got your name in the paper again, Potter."

Harry looked over his shoulder at the professor and saw the headline of the paper: POTTER ATTACKED!

He turned his head back around, saying nothing.

After another minute, "So famous Harry Potter is such a powerful wizard that he not only fights off the Death Eaters, but stops to give interviews too," the sneer was much more pronounced now.

Harry again said nothing. 'What the hell does he want from me!?' he thought, 'Like I wanted to be attacked yesterday, just to be in the paper again! LIKE I EVER WANT TO BE IN THE BLOODY PAPER!'

He felt the anger rising again, but kept it in check. He said nothing, just continued to work on the potion.

Harry thought this time Snape would just leave him alone, but after five minutes he continued, "And those touching remarks you made about your father. . ." his voice was scathing now.

Harry's ears began to burn. Hate was welling up in him, no matter how hard he tried to keep it in check. It took all of his will and somehow he remained focused at what he was doing.

He walked over the fireplace, dumped in the last of the ingredients, and began to stir. The potion called for him to stir it one hundred times, fifty very slowly clockwise, then another slow fifty counter. As he began to stir, he heard his three friends come down the stairs. At the same time he heard the front door open and the living room fire emit several popping sounds.

'Good, everyone is getting here for the meeting; I won't have to deal with Snape on my own for much longer.'

No one entered the kitchen yet--he heard Ron questioned by his Mum as to where Harry was.

He then heard Mad Eyes growling, amused, voice saying, "Ah, Minerva, it must've been a terrific battle. I'm sorry I missed it," he continued, "Ah, but I'm glad I got there when I did. Harry let that idiot Fudge have it, but I thought I was gonna have to stop'em from going after that dolt Dawlish."

Harry heard Mr. Weasley's confused voice, "But why would Harry want to go after an Auror?"

He heard Mad Eye chuckle as he said, "Seems the boy took offense to an attack on his Head of House. You shoulda seen him, he was furious at the sight of 'em."

He heard Professor McGonagall's say in an odd soft voice, "Foolish boy. . ."

Harry couldn't help but smile to himself.

That was Snape's cue to start in on him again.

As Ron, Ginny and Hermione entered to kitchen the first thing they heard was Snape's sneering voice, "Tell me Potter, why is it you can mix a difficult potion from memory here and in my class you perform like a first year idiot?"

Harry had had enough. He had just lifted the caldron from the fire, and carried it over to where he had been working to cool.

He turned to Snape, his anger barely leashed. "Perhaps Professor, I'm a better teacher than you can ever hope to be," he said with a hiss.

Harry turned back to his potion and heard Snape's trembling angry voice, "The headmaster wished us to continue your Occlumency lessons when we returned to school. We will continue them here and continue nightly. We shall see if you can teach yourself better with that!" he finished with contempt.

"I don't want your help, nor do I need it, Potions Master," Harry replied, his voice icy now.

He heard Ron begin to speak, when Snape cried out "Legilimens!"

Harry was caught off balance. He fell forward, striking his ribs on the corner of the counter. He let out a loud cry, as the power began emanating off of him. Snape was attacking his mind, but Harry had a surprise for his Potions Master. His eyes were blazing green fire, his face was a mask of rage, and blood was pounding in his ears.

In less than a minute Snape had fallen to his knees, clutching at his temples. Harry turned the spell against him, but instead of trying to read his thoughts, he was causing him extreme pain. Another thing Harry had studied this summer; he wouldn't be an easy target for possession again. After a few moments of writhing on the floor, crying out in pain, Snape tried to raise his wand.

With no more movement than lifting his arm, and opening his hand, the wand flew across the room and Harry caught it.

A voice from the door thundered, "Enough of this!"

Harry looked over at the door and saw his headmaster glaring at him. He released his hold on Snape; he turned his eyes back on him and growled through clenched teeth, "If you ever attack me again, no one, NO ONE, will stop me from having you. DO YOU HEAR ME?!?"

"I said enough, Harry!" Dumbledore said in a loud angry voice.

Harry turned to him; he was trembling with pain and anger to see that his headmaster was joined in the room by Kingsley, Tonks, Mad Eye, Remus, and Mr. Weasley.

Dumbledore turned to Tonks and Kingsley, and said, "Please help Severus into the next room." He turned to the two Weasleys and Hermione and said, "Please excuse us for a moment."

When Harry caught Ginny's eye, he was hurt to see she looked at him slightly fearfully. Harry was clutching the edge of the counter, trying to steady his ragged breath, when Dumbledore said in his thunderous voice, "I've told you time and time again that I trust Professor Snape. I understand you've had a rough time of it, but that is no excuse."

He continued in the same voice, "I don't know what you've done to yourself this summer, but your anger and powers are totally out of control!!"

Instead of calming down, Harry became more enraged at his headmaster's words. "How very nice for you to trust Snape, but I never have and I never will," he growled, "And as far as being in control of my temper and my powers, I think I did pretty well, else we would have been scraping him off the ceiling!" now his voice a low roar.

"Calm yourself, immediately!" Dumbledore said angrily.

The other wizards in the room took an involuntary step backwards at the raw power coming from the two in front of them.

Harry spoke in a forced calm voice, but it still came close to a snarl, and he still glared at his headmaster, "I was attacked from behind, what would you have had me do???"

Dumbledore just returned his gaze, still looking furious.

Harry turned to Mad Eye, "What would you have done it he attacked you, Mad Eye?"

Moody said nothing, but gave him an evil grin.

He turned his head slightly and said, "Remus? Mr. Weasley? What would you have done?"

They didn't answer him either.

Harry turned to his headmaster and said in a quiet but clear voice, "So me, the only one here being actively hunted, is just supposed to just sit back whenever he wants to attack me for no reason? I'm sorry, but I don't think so."

After staring Harry in the eye for a long minute Dumbledore said in a stern voice, "Drink your potion, Harry, the meeting will begin shortly." His headmaster began to turn away.

"I meant what I said professor, if he attacks me again. . ."

Dumbledore looked him in the eye again and then with a slight nod of his head, softly said, "Yes, Harry, I can see that you would try." And he led the other three wizards out of the room.

Harry filled a goblet and limped over to sit at one end of the table, clutching his ribs, and sipped the potion slowly. After a few minutes his ragged breath calmed and he heard the door open behind him.

"You alright Harry?" Ginny asked in a soft voice.

He nodded without turning around. He heard her turn to leave; he sighed and said, "I'm sorry I frightened you, Ginny."

She paused for a second, then walked over to him, and took the chair next to him; he couldn't bear to look into her eyes. He didn't want to see that scared look again.

She laid a hand over his on the table, and said softly, "You didn't really; I think I was more shocked. It was like last year, after the dementors attacked you--we saw Dumbledore angry and you can't help but be a little. . ." she trailed off.

She squeezed his hand. He looked up then, and looked into her eyes. There was no fear, and he was glad. They exchanged small smiles and then Ginny's changed into a sly grin and said, "Remind me never to get you mad at me." She was trying to lighten Harry's mood.

"How can I ever get mad at you?" he replied in a quiet serious voice.

They sat for a few minutes in thoughtful silence, then Harry let go of her hand, leaned back in his chair and started covering his ribs in the red mist again.

Dumbledore entered seconds later, asking after a glance at what Harry was doing, "Was any further damage done?"

Harry shook his head, not looking at his headmaster. Members of the Order, Ron, and Hermione entered the kitchen.

When Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen and got her first glimpse of Harry, she wailed, "Ohh, Harry! Albus, we need to get him to St. Mungo's directly."

When Harry tried to rise from his chair, and greet her properly, he was held down with a hand on the shoulder from both Mrs. Weasley and Professor McGonagall. So he said from his chair, softly but firmly, "Thanks Mrs. Weasley, Professor, but I'm not going to the hospital."

Everyone around the table began talking all at once.

Dumbledore cut everyone off, "Please everyone let us sit down and we shall discuss this."

It was Moody who spoke up first, "Look Harry, I saw you yesterday; I know what kind of condition you were in."

"And I did notice the broken ribs when I walked in," Dumbledore said in a quiet voice, giving Harry his penetrating gaze. "Harry what are your reasons for not going to St. Mungo's? Those wounds should be tended to."

Harry took a deep breath and began, "My injuries are taken care of, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione helped me care for them. Oh, and Falcore helped to," he said as an afterthought.

Dumbledore broke in now. "Who is this Falcore, and how did you get him into this place without me giving him the address?"

Moody said before Harry could respond, "POTTER, this is a secret meeting place, HOW IN THE HELL can you bring someone not cleared here!" he said this very angrily.

Ginny eyes flashed with anger, and was about to speak up and defend Harry, but he caught her eye and shook his head.

Harry said, "Actually he sort of followed me here; Let me introduce you before you string me up, Mad Eye."

He turned towards the door and called out "Falcore. . . Falcore, come down here and meet my friends."

There was a flash of fire behind Harry, and a soft warm weight settled on his shoulder.

There were gasps around the table, then after a moment of silence, "Potter," Moody said in an exasperated voice, "you could've told me Falcore's a ruddy bird."

Everyone around the table laughed.

"I don't know who he belongs to. Like I said he just followed me here. It was nice to have the company on the trip back and well, Falcore seemed like a good name."

"Harry," Dumbledore said, with a small smile for the first time today. "A witch or wizard cannot purchase a Phoenix, nor can one wizard give one to another. A Phoenix chooses who he's going to work and fight alongside."

Harry had a soft smile on his face. He reached up to stroke Falcore's neck, and said quietly, "Thank you for choosing me. I'll try not to let you down."

Falcore made not a sound but leaned his head down, to rub against Harry's cheek.

Dumbledore continued in a slightly sad, soft voice, "Fawkes joined me shortly before I faced Gindlewald."

The room silenced as he said this, making the connections to what he said. Harry stared down at the table; he couldn't face anyone's eye for a moment.

Before anyone else could speak, Professor McGonagall spoke, "Harry, that doesn't explain about not going to the hospital."

Harry was thankful for the interruption. He responded in a quiet voice, "It's very simple Professor. I'm not going to be seen with anyone in public and I'm in no condition for another fight."

Before anyone could speak up, he continued more forcefully, "Anyone seen with me will become a target. I have no doubt they're still looking for me."

After another deep breath, he continued, "Didn't it say in the Prophet today that I went into hiding alone?"

Hermione broke in angrily before Harry could finish. "Yes I saw that and after this meeting I'm planning on writing the ministry a nice note about RITA SKEETER!"

Both he and Ron turned sharply to her and hissed, "Hermione, shut up!"

It was too late though. Moody was the first to answer, he said with an evil grin, "So you lot have something on Skeeter," he laughed, "that could be very useful."

Professor McGonagall spoke next, "I wondered how you got her to write a decent article about what happened to you in the Quibbler last term."

Harry sighed, giving Hermione a comforting smile--she looked horrified at the slip up. "Yes, well, we now have an understanding. I asked her to put the part in about me hiding out alone. I reckoned that would keep the death eaters away from you all."

Harry glanced at his headmaster, who gave him a small nod of understanding.

Moody spoke up then, "Did you ask her to keep Mundungus's name out of the paper? I was wondering why it wasn't."

Harry nodded, "The story about my parents' friends keeping an eye on me was the best I could come up with to explain why he was there."

He looked around the table, and the adults were giving him approving nods.

Moody said quietly, "That was good thinking Harry; you couldn't do any more than you did. And I mean during the fight as well as after."

Everyone around the table made approving sounds.

"How is Dung?" he asked in a sad sort of voice.

Dumbledore answered, "He will be fine in a couple of days, Harry. I saw him this morning. He told me how you took up position in front of him, defending him as you fought. A most difficult way to duel."

Harry nodded, "Yes I know, and I have the bruises to show for it." He tried for a little levity, but failed miserably.

"You have to attend the hearing at the ministry in two days."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, Fudge told me." He glanced at Moody who smiled; Harry hoped he wouldn't go into the details of his rant at Fudge, and most especially not what he said to Percy.

"I will see you there, and pretend to be seeing you for the first time. After the hearing I will escort you to St. Mungo's. I don't think you have to worry about putting me in danger," Dumbledore said, the corners of his lips twitching, "so you just have to take it easy for the next couple of days."

Ginny spoke next, "Ron, Hermione, and I can stay here and help you out."

Harry spoke a bit more forcefully that he intended, "No, Ginny. Haven't you been listening? Everyone must act as if they don't know where I am and if you three disappear all of a sudden. . ." he trailed off, seeing the hurt, but also somewhat angry look on her face.

He said in a softer voice, "Ginny I'm sorry, but I won't put you all in more danger than I already have. If they are watching and I'd bet a thousand galleons they are, they will notice if Ron suddenly doesn't show up for work, or they don't see you around the Burrow, or Hermione isn't there either. I'm sure they noticed the Knight Bus last night."

"But. . ." Ron started to say.

"Ron, listen mate," Harry said quietly, "what do you think I'd do if I got a letter tomorrow that said they'd taken one of you?"

He glanced at Ginny, "Do you think I wouldn't come, even if next time it was Voldemort himself that had one of you?" he paused, "Do you honestly think I wouldn't come?"

No one said anything, and he continued in a small voice, "I'm not ready. . . but I would come."

Ginny lost her hurt and angry look and looked at him now with a combination of affection and fear for him.

Ron was looking sadly down at the table, and Hermione's eyes were shining.

"Harry," Mrs. Weasley put in quietly, "we just can't leave you here all alone."

He smiled wearily at her, "It can't be worse than being at my aunt and uncles. . . besides order members will be in and out I'm sure."

"You haven't mentioned what you're going to do when we get back to school. . ."

Harry looked her in the eye for a long moment, and replied softly, "I haven't worked everything out yet, Hermy."

Mrs. Weasley said quietly, "You can still get visitors in the evening. No one will realize if they Floo here after dark. This way I know I can at least send you one good meal a day. You're still terribly thin, Harry."

Harry couldn't help but smile to this woman who was the only mother he could remember and nodded gratefully. He noticed Ron, Hermione and Ginny beaming at Mrs. Weasley.

After a pause he decided to change the subject. He looked over to Kingsley and Tonks, "What about the one I captured? Any information about him?"

Kingsley answered in his deep quiet voice, "Not yet Harry. We got a name, but not much else. He didn't go to Hogwarts. The other Aurors are checking into things."

"By the way, Harry, that was a brilliant piece of transfiguration, catching that Death Eater like that," Tonks said with an appreciative smile.

"Oh, what's this?" Professor McGonagall, his Transfiguration teacher, spoke up now, curiosity in her voice.

Harry really didn't want to think anymore about yesterday. He paused giving the chance for someone else to answer.

Luckily Moody was impressed too, so it was him that spoke up. "It was brilliant, Minerva, Harry had a tree smack around the filth, then snatched him up into the air and wrapped him up nicely."

"Hit him with a Disapparation jinx first, didn't you, Potter?" That was Kingsley's.

Harry nodded, and Dumbledore continued, "I think that's all for this morning. Harry needs to rest." And with that the meeting began to break up.

Before Mrs. Weasley left the room, she gave him a soft hug, and kiss on the cheek, "Harry, your hair has gotten so long! It really needs a trim, dear."

Harry gave her a sly smile and said in a mock serious voice, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley, but I'm under orders not to cut it."

Ginny spoke up from behind her mother and said without thinking, "It wasn't exactly an order, Harry. . ." then broke off when she realized what she had said in front of all the Order members. Blushing to the roots of her hair, she positively fled the room. Hermione and Tonks, both giggling, ran after her.

Mrs. Weasley smiled softly at him and the rest said their good-byes.

Moody was trailing the group.

"Moody, can I have a word before you go?"

"Sure, what's up, Harry?"

Harry took a moment to organize his thoughts, "Do you think I'm handling this right? I mean with the Weasleys and all. I know they're in danger because of me, but I just don't know what else to do. . ."

Mad Eye looked him in the eye for a moment then said, is a soft growl, "You care about them a lot, don't you?"

"They're my family, Mad Eye, the only family I've ever known and I know them being that has made them targets, too."

"Harry, I don't think you can do more than you have done. We've set up protection spells all over the Burrow, so it's pretty safe. I'll be honest with you, the only other thing you could do is run, separate yourself totally. But running is no kind of life and you'd have the Ministry and the Order on your tail too," he said the last with a small grin.

"I've thought about running, leaving the country even. . . I looked into some things. . ." Harry said in a small voice.

"Harry, you've done all we could ask of you and more; always have, from what Albus has told me. We're all playing it by ear now, so that's what you're gonna have to do. Think things through, like you've been mostly doing. That's all you can really do."

"Thanks, Mad Eye." Moody clapped him on the shoulder and left the room.

Harry grabbed his goblet, filled it, and sat. He sat for a long time, sipping his potion, thinking about the events of the past twenty-four hours. Though even with all that had happened, his thoughts found their way back to Ginny. Even through his feelings of rage at Snape and the Death Eaters, or his fear for his friends, or his slight nervousness for the upcoming hearing, whenever he thought of her, he felt warmth inside. Harry didn't understand it. It had never felt that way before and even thought he'd only felt it for a short time, he had to admit it was something he would miss if it was taken away from him. After a time, he heard the door behind him opened and saw his favorite werewolf step into the kitchen.

"Hello again Remus," he said in a tired voice. Remus Lupin had an odd look on his face and he quickly said, "what's wrong?"

Remus gave a mirthless chuckle as he took a seat next to Harry at the table. "Harry, you look like you've been to hell and back and you ask me what's wrong? I would've thought you went to get some sleep."

"I really haven't slept all that much this summer, too much to do, too many things on my mind."

Remus just surveyed him. It was obvious he had something to say to Harry, but was having trouble getting it out.

After another moment he said, "Look Harry, I know you and I aren't as close as you and Sirius were. . . I know what he meant to you." His voice cracked slightly.

Harry interrupted him before he could continue. "Remus, I care about you as much as I. . ." his throat closed at when it came to saying Sirius's name. "You two were like brothers to my dad, and that's how I always will think of you," his voice was soft and emotional, "My two uncles."

He continued, "You know at the Dursley's I had no friends or anyone at all to talk to. I used my imagination a lot; I always thought that if Peter," (his voice hardened on the name) "had never gotten away. . . well, I always thought it would have been the three of us."

"Sirius, you and me," his voice choked a little. He chuckled softly after seeing Remus's wide mouthed expression and continued, "He was a great man, but you think he couldn't have raised me up from a baby on his own?"

At this Harry saw Remus's eyes shining. He let out a soft chuckle, then said, "I suppose you're right Harry, I'm often too closed up about expressing my feeling and I want you to know that I always thought of you as my family."

Harry smiled softly at his 'uncle.' "You and I started out as teacher and student, so I guess we had an awkward start. Sirius, well you saw what Azkaban did to him and being on the run. I was always so worried about him, up until the end. . ." he couldn't continue.

Remus noted this. "Harry, do you want to talk about this?"

Harry choked out, "I can't. . ."

Remus reached out and placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

This gave him a chance to compose himself before he said, "There is more you want to say though, isn't there?"

Remus nodded sadly, "We don't know exactly what you've done to yourself this summer, but Albus has some ideas. We're worried about you, Harry," He paused, then, "I know how powerful a wizard you are, even at your age, but you can still cause yourself great harm and more than a little pain."

"Pain, Remus," he said in a dead voice, "I already know pain; I know it more than most wizards, I can't do more than that has already been done to me. The Crucio, the nightmares, Voldemort trying to posses me directly, getting Sirius. . ." his throat closed on him again.

Remus squeezed his shoulder tighter, but kept silent.

After several long minutes, Harry looked at him in the eye for a moment before saying, "You know about the Prophesy, don't you." It wasn't a question.

Remus nodded.

"I have a feeling Sirius knew. Who else?" he asked quietly.

"Sirius and I knew from when you were a baby, Harry."

Harry's eyes snapped to him.

Remus looked at him sheepishly, "We decided not to tell you earlier--actually Dumbledore convinced us that since Voldemort was still gone, there was no reason to give you more to worry about. We wanted you to be happy for once in your life, to have friends, to learn to be a wizard just like those around you. To be a normal young wizard and not just the Boy-Who-Lived."

"I have to disagree with you, Moony. I should've been told the moment I walked into Hogwarts," he said in a firm, almost angry, voice, "I should've been preparing all this time."

"Harry, you also needed time to have friends--and you have very true friends--and you had to have the chance to be a boy."

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "A boy, Moony? I fought Voldemort and Quirrell when I was eleven. I nearly got the three of us killed. At twelve I fought a basilisk, and Ginny and I nearly died, Ron and I nearly had our memories wiped, and Hermy was petrified. Should I continue?"

Remus looked heartbroken, and shook his head slightly.

They sat there in silence for a while, till Harry said, "I wish we could've grown up in a different time. Do you realize with Hermy's brains, Ron's head for strategy and my brainless bravery, we might have even outdone the Marauders?" his voice was wistful, "And now Ginny in the mix. . . Yeah, I think we could've given you lot a run for your money."

Then he spoke in an almost whisper, "How can I protect them now, now that they're in danger because of me? I have no choice now, Moony, I need to study, I need to train, they will come again for me soon. We wouldn't be talking right now if I hadn't been doing everything I did this summer. And I still nearly died. . ." his voice trembled again.

"Harry, you don't have to do this alone. . ."

Harry now cut in loudly and slightly more angrily, "Yes I do Remus! I only wanted help from one person yesterday--Dumbledore. I won't allow anyone else be killed for me."

"Harry. . ." Remus began in a soothing tone.

Harry snapped up from his chair, ignoring the pain. He shouted, "Look at me, Remus, two men you thought of as brothers are dead because of me! My Mum! Dead! Cedric Diggory, who just became someone I called friend! Dead!"

"How many good people have to die because of me. . ." he ended in a choked whisper.

Before Remus could say anything, Harry stormed out of the room. He just couldn't deal with anyone anymore.

Harry heard Order members come and go at various points during the day. He didn't speak to any of them, though. After his talk with Remus, he retreated into the drawing room and summoned the books he was working with right now and threw himself into study, as he had done since he left school. He heard voices from the living room sometimes, heard his name mentioned. He assumed Remus was telling everyone to avoid him. He was glad no one came up to see him, as he really couldn't deal with any more. Whenever he let himself get distracted from work he began to shake and tremble with sadness and worry. It was quiet for a long time. Harry was curled up on the sofa, no less then five spell books open around him, when he heard voices again.

He looked up and saw by the darkness from the windows that he had worked the day away yet again. This was another day where he hadn't eaten, but he wasn't particularly hungry so it made little matter. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and he prepared himself to face whoever it was.

After a moment there was a soft knock at the door. Harry looked up to see Ginny carrying a tray and looking at him with unmasked concern.

"Harry, may we come in?" she asked hesitantly.

Harry gave her a weak smile and said, "Of course, please come on in."

She was followed by Ron and Hermione. Hermione pulled the coffee table closer to Harry, and Ginny placed the tray in front of him. When she uncovered it he saw enough food for three people.

Ginny said with a small smile, "Mum heard you haven't eaten at all today."

Harry smiled back, and said, "Tell her thanks, Gin, put the cover back on it for now, not very hungry."

He looked around at all of their concerned faces, and quickly sought to change the subject, "Well, sit down. Butterbeer, anyone?" And without thinking he raised his open hand and summoned them.

After he caught the four bottles, he passed them out, noticing the open mouth expressions from his friends. "What's wrong?"

"You just used a summoning charm without your wand," Hermione said in a shaky voice.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I have a knack for some wandless magic," he said dismissively.

They sat in silence for a few minutes sipping their Butterbeer. Hermione was the first to break the silence. She was looking at the books around Harry. "Would you mind if I took a look at your books, Harry?"

Harry didn't mind, especially since none were in English. He handed them over.

After another moment, Ginny said, "This one isn't in English."

Ron followed, "Neither is this one."

Hermione next said, "Nor is this one, and none seem to be in the same language."

She paused and then asked quietly, "Harry how many languages do you speak now?" she looked unsure of wanting the answer.

Harry paused, and then said, "Including Parseltongue, fifteen."

They gasped.

Harry continued, "Well a lot of the books I have aren't in English."

Ron looked like he wanted to ask how it was possible, Hermione looked as if she had an idea of what Harry had been putting himself though for this knowledge, and Ginny looked at him strangely. She did know the most of what he did this summer. Harry didn't want to have this conversation, so he quickly fished around for something to talk about.

"So Ron, how was work today? How is WWW doing?" he said quickly.

"Aww, it's brilliant, Harry, the place is always packed. I tell you Fred and George are great to work for. They don't treat me like I'm their little brother there, you know. They are great bosses. I don't think we stop laughing the whole day. And they're making a fortune with what they love to do."

Harry gave him a small smile, and nodded. "That's just great!" he said truthfully. It was one of his better ideas, giving them his tri-wizard winnings to start the store; it made him a little more content.

"Oh, and they're gonna stop by and see you in the next couple of days, after work. We told them to be discreet."

Harry nodded, trying to build on his slight contentment, he said in a bright voice, "And how did you two ladies spend the day?"

They spoke for a couple of hours, all seeming to want to keep the conversation light, speaking of Quidditch and new WWW products. Ron actually got Harry to laugh a couple of times at mishaps the twins had had with developing new joke supplies. Finally it was time for the trio to leave. Hermione came around the table and gave him a soft hug and kiss on the cheek, and he and Ron clapped hands for a moment, Ron looking as if he wanted to say something. Lastly came Ginny. She must have given the other two a signal, for they disappeared before she came all the way around the table. She didn't say anything, just looked into his eyes, her hand reaching up to stroke his hair and cheek.

She said, "You haven't slept today, have you."

He shook his head softly, his eyes never leaving hers.

"And you didn't sleep last night, unless you snuck into bed with me without me knowing," she paused before saying, "Not that I would've minded," she said in a mock serious voice, a twinkle in her eye.

"If I would have known..." even though he was trying to keep the mood light, sadness crept into his voice.

Ginny was looking at him with concern. "Try and get some rest, Harry, and eat something."

"I'll try."

She put her arms around him gently, and he returned the gesture, although a bit tighter than she.

He felt that safe feeling again, and thought, 'Like this, I think I could sleep.'

This disturbed him though. He was protecting them--he couldn't afford to get any closer, no matter how much he wanted to, needed to.

He softly disentangled himself from her, and said in a terribly sad voice, "The others are waiting, Ginny, you had better go."

She looked at him, frowning slightly, then nodded and left without a word.

He stared at the doorway she had just left through for a long while. He felt empty and cold inside. He shook himself awake after another minute, pushed the tray of food away from him and began his work again.

Remus came up soon after to bid him goodnight, advising him to go to bed soon, but left without saying anything else.

Many hours later, several after sunrise actually, found Harry Potter amidst a dozen or so heavy tomes, two dozen rolled up parchments, and one overlarge one. The overly large one Harry was poring over, making little notes, in different color inks, and occasionally diving into one of those large spell books for clarification. He had started this particular project after getting Moody's reply on how to properly defend himself from a particularly powerful, dark curse. The easier shield charms weren't enough, and the more complex ones were more curse specific. Which it to say that you needed to have an idea of what your opponent was going to do and use the proper shielding. Each one of them was incredible difficult. 'Can't even do one of them properly yet,' he thought to himself with disgust. He had tried it in under pressure during the attack, but it fizzled miserably. One of the times he came close to being killed. Lucky for him, Moody's reply and his inability to master the advanced shielding charms quickly led him to create a new magic, his own magic, his own spells.

They had learned a little about spell design in charms class, but it wasn't nearly enough. After several grueling absorption rituals, his knowledge of the subject matter increased immensely.

He knew in his heart he would eventually master the spells, but he needed something for now, something the scum hadn't seen before, and if possible something easy enough for his friends to be able to use.

It was incredibly difficult; he would not be able to create his own magic from scratch, not yet anyway. But he was basing this spell on the moderately difficult Protego shield charm, which most witches/wizards were able to use efficiently by their fifth year at school. He used his modified shield charm in the battle. It worked much better than the original, without the reflecting effect, but if Harry was to survive, it needed to be much stronger.

Harry was so engrossed in what he thought was a breakthrough that he hadn't realized someone was talking to him.

"Harry. . .HARRY!"

"What. . .oh, sorry, Remus." Harry glanced at the windows and was slightly shocked to see the sun up, "Good morning."

"Harry, have you been up all night working?" he asked slightly sternly.

"What. . . yes. . . I guess I got inspired last night. . ." he trailed off, studying his chart again.

"Good morning, Harry." Said a different voice.

Harry looked up again. "Oh, sorry, good morning Professor, uh. . .I'm sorry, could you and Remus just give me a minute please, I think I might be onto. . ." he trailed off again.

The both took seats opposite them again, and watched him with slightly bemused expressions, which turned to fascination the more they watched.

Harry was diving into books and scrolls with abandon. His eyes seemed to be slightly glowing. He would check a passage in book or scroll, then go back to his spell model (which if looked at directly, would seem to be a moving, perfectly scaled, three dimensional drawing), check his notes on it, then continue to the next. This continued for more than five minutes, and then Harry's whole aspect changed to one of utter disappointment. He sighed deeply, and then looked up from his work.

After a moment of silence Dumbledore spoke, "I did not realize part of your obviously extensive study this summer included spell design."

Harry didn't know what to say. If Dumbledore knew the true extent of his studies this summer, he was sure his headmaster would not be speaking so calmly.

"And I must tell you I am none too enthused as to some of the books I see in front of you."

Harry spoke up now, "I need to know what I'm up against, sir."

Dumbledore sighed deeply, but kept his penetrating gaze fixed on Harry.

Harry in turn did not avert his eyes, he knew what he was doing was necessary.

"So you thought you were onto something?"

"I thought I was, I thought I had it. I thought I'd managed to perfect it, but I just realized the whole structure would collapse, probably in the face of the conjurer."

Dumbledore's lips twitched and he said in a sly voice, "Never a good way to start a duel."

They continued to gaze at each other for a moment, till the professor said, "Harry, Remus told me some of what you talked about yesterday; I am as worried as he is about you. I know some of the things you've done to yourself, Harry, and I know what absorption rituals can take out of an adult wizard. I also have the very strong suspicion that you've done much worse to yourself."

Harry quickly got the vision of himself curled up in his trunk's chamber, covered in sweat, too tired and hurt to move. He shuddered, hoping no one noticed.

Dumbledore's gaze never left Harry; he continued quietly, "We are all here to help you, Harry, whenever you need us, whether with help with magic, or advice of any kind."

Harry nodded, "Thank you Remus, Professor. . ."

Both Remus and Dumbledore had the feeling that Harry wouldn't ask for help, but they couldn't think of a way to convince him at the moment.

"Very well, Harry," Dumbledore said with a small sigh, "you must, however eat and sleep. No matter who the wizard is, we must all eat and sleep, for our health and to keep our magic strong, and in your case, to continue to grow."

"Molly should be here by now, Albus. Harry I suggest you eat everything she puts in front of you," Remus said with a sad smile, "you look much worse today, and if you don't let her see you eat she may decide to drag you to the hospital no matter what you say."

Harry nodded and began to rise. He nearly shrieked as he stood, since he forgot to reapply the salve, and as he had been curled up on the sofa, his whole body seemed to have seized up. Remus caught him before he could fall into the coffee table.

After Harry straightened up, he tried to alleviate the worried faces looking at him, and he said quickly, "I'm just sore is all, I'm fine really."

Dumbledore stared at him for a moment and drew his wand. He gave it a complicated little wave. As soon as he finished a very old walking stick appeared in midair. Dumbledore caught it deftly, and said, "Harry, this is a family heirloom. I want you to use it for the next few days."

"Thank you, Professor." He was getting a good look at it now. It was amazing; runes were cut into it, as well as designs he could almost recognize. "It's beautiful sir. I will take good care of it. Thank you again."

Dumbledore had led them out of the room, but after only two shaky, stiff steps, Harry stopped dead, his eyes fixed on the head of the staff. The two men in front of him noticed, and stopped to look to see if Harry was ok.

Harry started muttering under his breath, eyes never leaving the staff, eyes that looked oddly distant. Remus began to speak, obviously worried, but Dumbledore, looking at Harry with frank curiosity, put a hand out to stop him from interrupting.

After a moment, Harry's voice, though distant, said clearly, "The staff is embedded with spells," another a pause, and more muttering. "A weak form of a shield charm. . . is that an. . . endurance charm?. . . and hmm..." more muttering. Harry's eyes seemed to be glowing brighter, something which Remus and Dumbledore noticed, "Some form of weather repellant?"

After another minute he looked up at the pair. Dumbledore spoke very solemnly, "Very good Harry. . .you have been studying hard, you did miss a thing or two though. When we have time, I will tell you about the history behind that staff. I have no doubt you will be interested."

Breakfast was a quiet affair, except for the few minutes after Mrs. Weasley got her first look at him. He read his paper, and forced himself to eat everything that was put in front of him.

Remus, Molly and Albus were talking quietly at the opposite end of the table for much of the time, until Professor Dumbledore said to Harry, "Are you alright for the hearing tomorrow? If you have any questions you should ask them now. I don't think we will see each other until the hearing itself."

Harry thought about it for a moment. He hadn't really seriously considered it up till now; he was too preoccupied with work. "Uh. . .I don't think so, Professor."

The three at the opposite end of the table were looking at him with concern. Harry pretended not to notice, as he really didn't know what to say. He merely buried his face in the paper once more.

When everyone left Harry returned to the drawing room, and his books, and studied sedately.

He whiled away the day, not noticing the sun go down. When his friends came again this night, it was a much shorter visit. He told them he needed to try to sleep, to prepare for the hearing the next day. Ginny did force him to eat something in her presence. His reassurance didn't convince her in the least.

Harry never did make it up to Sirius's room that evening; he dozed every so often to awaken with a jolt, the images of disturbing dreams forgotten as soon as he awoke. He stayed on the sofa till the sun broke the darkness again.