Fugitive Prince

By March Madness

The Giver, Lois Lowry

"No..."

Harry dropped the baby bag and let go of Leo's hand as they saw the apartment building that had previously been their home. It was burning.

Police and fire fighters were guiding people down the stairs, away from the smoking building, many of them looking as dirty and singed as the people they were rescuing.

Harry couldn't believe it. They had just spent the entire day walking back home, back to the last safe place Harry could think of, and now even that was gone. All his things, all his parents' possessions...gone.

Leo yawned, dropping the sucker Harry had stolen for him. Harry clenched his fist and went very still, frightening the baby into crying again.

Letting out a strained breath, Harry smiled tightly, reassuring Leo that he'd be fine, before dropping Leo off in the park next door along with the baby bag and the blankets, pillows, and food they'd stolen from the house in Godric's Hollow. Then, taking one last look at Leo, Harry ran into the apartment, ignoring the firefighters' shouts.

Smoke blinded his eyes. Smoke and the smell of fire. He coughed, blinking hard, and dropped to a crawl, breathing much easier below the fire. He could hear the officers coming from behind him and hurried up to the stairs, dodging the residents on their way down as he ran/crawled up to the ninth floor.

"Hey!" one woman exclaimed, getting shoved out of the way. "What are you doing, young man?"

He didn't answer, shoving past more people. The higher he went, the fewer people there were. The firefighters followed him, yelling at him to get back, but the smoke had paused them at the sixth floor, and they'd given up at the eighth.

His family's door was broken open. He tensed, thinking of the possibility of thieves, but went in anyway.

An open window drained most of the smoke so he could stand up straight. Harry looked around but saw no one so he started to his parents' room first. A photo album of the entire family, several magical items and a key to Gringotts were all shrunken down to fit into a small bag Harry grabbed. All his parents' schoolbooks followed as Harry stuffed the small bag with as much as he could, choking up again but refusing to cry.

He went on to grab baby food from the kitchen, trying to hurry. His own room was left unopened simply because he didn't think he'd need any of that childish stuff anymore. He wasn't a child anymore; Voldemort had assured that.

Harry stuffed a few of Leo's favorite toys in and cast a weightless charm on the bag before rushing back downstairs as fast as he could. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," Harry muttered. "Leo... stupid, leaving him alone."

He got down to the second floor and was nearly tackled by relieved firefighters who dragged him outside. "We got him!" they yelled and the anxious crowd--as well as several newscasters--cheered. "Let's get him some air. Come on son," one firefighter pulled him towards an ambulance but Harry struggled the entire way.

"Let me go! Get off me!" He yanked his shoulders away but the firefighter wasn't letting him get away a second time. "I-I got to get my little brother. I left him in the park."

"In the park? Boy," the firefighter shook his head. "You've got some problems. Rushing into burning buildings, leaving your little brother alone..."

"Leave me alone," Harry replied tensely.

The officer looked into Harry eyes and sighed. "Let's just take care of that cut, why don't we? I'll send someone over to get your brother. What's he look like?" Harry glared but went along with the firefighter who added after a moment, "Who was in there?"

"What?"

"Who or what was in there that you had to go up there?" he asked again.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably as the officer scrubbed his forehead, scrapping off the dried blood. He didn't have to answer because a medic, passing by, swore lightly and said, "Quite a scar you got there."

"Huh?" Harry rubbed his forehead and felt the outlines of his 'scar.'

"Not something you get everyday." The medic paused to stare at Harry in suspicion. "Something really bad had to happen-"

Harry looked down and squirmed until he heard Leo: "Hawy!"

The firefighter let Harry go and Harry picked Leo up, glaring at the medic and officer. The medic had quietly asked the firefighter to leave, saying that he'd "take it from here." A creepy feeling was coming up and Harry didn't trust it a bit.

"Like I was saying," the medic continued as the firefighter walked away. "Something really bad had to have happened to get a scar like that." He paused. "You want to tell me, kid?" Harry didn't answer. "Because I can tell you right now that only really powerful--and really dark magic can cause something like that-"

"You're a wizard!" Harry's eyes widened and his grip on Leo tightened the slightest.

"Mundungus Fletcher, at your service. Actually, here at the service of Mrs. Figg but that's another matter."

Harry's face darkened and he took a step back. "Y-you're here to help that Auror," he bit out viciously.

"You know, there really isn't a fire," Fletcher ignored Harry's outburst. "It seems that some Death Eaters attacked your house last night, Mr. Potter. Any reason why?" Harry didn't answer. "They even went as far as to leave the Dark Mark in your own bedroom, fused with a spell so powerful that we can't erase the Dark Mark. How will muggles react to seeing that?" Harry still didn't answer and Fletcher pursed his lips. "Where are your parents, kid?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Leave them alone. Leave me alone." He turned to go but Fletcher grabbed his arm with enough force to hurt. Harry bit back a yelp and glared.

"You're parents haven't acted very innocent," Fletcher informed him. "Moving every two months, like they had something to hide; that incident with the Death Eaters-"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you know? A few years ago, your parents were being brought down to the Ministry Office to be questioned about their shady behavior when a group of Death Eaters appear and free them. Then your family disappears for almost two years before we catch you again." Fletcher raised an eyebrow. "Does that sound very innocent?"

"My parents are innocent," Harry argued angrily, face paling. "And they already told me about the Ministry's 'questioning.' More like torturing-"

"Quiet! Your parents were probably spies-" Fletcher was going red in the face but calmed down when the firefighter came back to see if everything was all right. While the two were distracted, Harry sneaked away with his little brother.

*

"Arabella, the Potters have gone," Fletcher whispered to the lady Harry had shoved while going up the stairs. She nodded absently, sitting on the sidewalk as she knitted. It didn't even look like she was listening to him as he talked out of the corner of his mouth.

"I know." She pushed back some hair from her face. "Where do you think he'll go?" Fletcher shrugged in reply and she frowned as she looked up to the panicking muggles. "How long does the Ministry plan on letting this go on?"

"Not much longer or the muggles will get suspicious."

It was very stupid of them," she mumbled. "Now they'll have to destroy half of the building to make that fire look real."

"They'll have to do it anyway, trying to get rid of that Dark Mark." He sighed mournfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Don't start complaining now. It's what you get for being an Auror in these times." She threaded the thick needle back and forth. "What did you find out?"

"James and Lily are missing, maybe even dead." Her face paled but she kept knitting. "Harry knows something about it, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Why would he? You're pretty scary."

"And Harry hates Aurors. Strike against you."

"And Sirius," she added softly. "He won't go to his godfather's then?" Fletcher shook his head. "And with the full moon being last night, the werewolf is out of the question. Then where?"

"I don't know. The Potters were really into secrecy."

"Which is why the Ministry suspects them," Arabella uttered quietly.

"And everyone in the Order."

"Everyone in the Order except the Head of it," she contradicted importantly. "Though he'd never tell us why."

"Well, we can't stay here." He helped her up like any good medical officer would help up an older woman. "The Obliviators and Inspectors will be showing up soon, as well as Muggle-Relationship authorities. It wouldn't do for them to catch two suspected Order members hanging out."

Arabella looked back with a sigh, the apartment building that had been her home for nearly three months. For the three months since the Order had tracked the Potters to this address and sent her here with the mission of watching the Potters, spying on them to make sure that they hadn't been turned. And in those three months, she had discovered one thing; James and Lily loved their children more than life itself and would do anything to keep them safe. Last night, a feeling had come to her that their love had been put to the ultimate test and though they'd passed, they weren't coming back anytime soon. The Death Eater attack only assured her that she had no reason to be reassured. She gave the apartment one last look, then turned around and walked away.

*

Diagon Alley had definitely seen better days. Harry could remember, as he looked around the dark street, the day he'd been brought here to get his wand. His mother had always been so uptight about his education, teaching him everything she knew and even getting him a wand.

That day had been horrible, one of the worst he could remember. The wand-maker, Ollivander, had been really excited at first, excited to have new business, and as Harry went through wand after wand he only grew more eager to find the right wand. But when he'd found it... the look on the wand-maker's face, in the wand-maker's eyes made Harry wish his wand had never been found. Ollivander spoke briefly with James and Lily about the wand's origin, adding that it even had a brother out there with a feather from the same phoenix at its core. When they'd been told, and when everyone else listening in to the conversation had heard who owned that other wand, all eyes had turned to Harry with anxious, even fearful looks.

Harry had never been told, however, and Lily had made sure that he never knew.

Leo was half-asleep, barely managing to hold onto his older brother's hand. Harry gave his brother a sad, apologizing look, and headed towards Gringotts. He needed some money if he wanted to rent a room.

He walked down the magical street, holding Leo's hand, and trying to ignore the looks people sent him. Now days, no one was brave enough to walk down any street by themselves, let alone the magical streets of London, yet they saw Harry walking alone save for his brother, both under ten years of age. Some paused and whispered, pointing fingers at the (foolishly) brave young lads, wondering where their parents were, some even speculating that the two young boys had nothing to fear because they were sons of some Death Eater, or sons of some Auror and therefore could walk around untouched.

"By Merlin!" A man in his twenties with a mop of blue-tinted hair, long enough to be pulled back into a pony at the nape of his back, dropped a bag of books and stared at Harry with wide eyes. "H-Harry Potter? Is that you?"

Harry instinctively drew Leo behind him but the man saw him and his mouth dropped open. "And Leo! How long has it been since I last saw you guys?" He came up to them, enveloping Harry in a great hug. "You've gotten so big, Harry! And with that wicked scar--I almost didn't recognize you! Say," the man paused and looked around. "Where are your parents? They didn't leave you two to walk alone, did they?"

Harry pulled back, trying to keep some of his dignity, and asked, "Who are you?"

The guys tossed his arms in the air. "You don't remember me? Has it been that long?" At Harry's blank look, he rolled his arms and said, "It's me, Sirius. You're godfather."

Harry froze but Sirius didn't seem to notice, whipping Leo out from behind him. "Leo's sure gotten big. How old are you?" Leo blubbered into his hands. "You can't be much older than one--let's see, you're birthday was in March and it's only now June-"

Leo began to cry and Harry all but pulled Leo back, face dropping into a mask. This man was an Auror! Everyone else in the street knew the same thing, for as soon as Sirius had come they'd stopped their watching and whispering, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

"Hey, shh," Sirius smiled and tried to cheer up the one year-old but Leo only cried harder. Harry drew back into a defensive position but luckily Sirius glanced at his watch and jumped. "Is it that late already? Hey listen, I gotta go. Tell your parents hi and that it's not safe to walk around alone!" With that, he tore down the streets, stopping to pick up his fallen items before running away.

Harry let out a sigh a relief and whispered, "Shh. It's all right now," into Leo's ear before going into the goblin bank.

He stepped up to a goblin's desk and said, "Excuse me, I'm here to make a withdrawal-"

"Have you got your key?" the goblin cut in nastily, not even looking up from his paperwork. Harry fumbled into the bag, looking for the tiny key and finally found it and returned it to its original size before handing it over to the goblin. The goblin snatched the key and held it up to the light before grunting in satisfaction. "Come with me," he ordered, waving a hand for Harry to follow.

The nine-year old picked up his bag and the squirming Leo and hurriedly followed the displeased-looking goblin past his desk and led them down to a door that left the great marble hall, down towards the underground vaults. They stopped before an empty cart, empty save for the single goblin waiting to drive the cart wherever it was needed.

"Where to?" the goblin asked with a sneer on his face, or at least it looked like a sneer. Goblins always looked like they had smelled something unpleasant right under their nose, curling their long nails and wrinkling their nose to escape the smell.

The banking goblin handed him the small golden key. "Vault 313."

The driver grunted and motioned with a hand to Harry. "Vault 313. Are you coming?

Harry got into the cart and they were off at breakneck speed, racing down the miniature tracks and whizzing by other people, people on their way back to ground level. Leo tried to stand and wave at them but the cart was going too fast and he promptly fell back down.

The tracks were like a maze: right, left, right, right, right, left, straight, left, right, left, straight, straight--turning and twisting so that Harry wouldn't have been able to find the way back on his own. The goblin didn't mind with steering, sitting on the opposite side of the cart and leaving Harry to suspect that not even the goblins fully knew where they were going, leaving their bewitched carts to lead the war to the right vault.

Harry felt his head beginning to spin and leaned against the cart's side, watching the stone walls sweep by. He suddenly started as the light caught onto the walls and illuminated the doors carved into them, doors so well camouflaged that Harry hardly noticed them, nearly missed them as the cart sped along.

As they passed the many doors that hung in the wall, Harry could hear the most horrible things: dragons roaring in the distance, rocks collapsing from the ceiling, the screams of a would-be thief as s/he was caught and pulled into one of the many traps protecting the Gringotts bank vaults from robbery. They passed a lake and the cart tilted, making Harry catch his breath least they suddenly fall off the tracks and into the dark waters where rocks grew up from the floor and down from the ceiling, looking like vicious spikes.

The cart finally slowed down and stopped before a hidden doorway but as they stopped, the door suddenly became very obvious as if their presence brought it back from its hiding place. Leo had fallen asleep on the ride so Harry left him in the cart to blubber in sleep while he got out. The goblin took the key and fit it into the keyhole, opening it and waving away the green smoke that came away in the opening.

The fortune waiting them was enormous. Piles and piles of Galleons were littering the floor like a golden road, many more than the piles of Sickles and Knuts. Harry swallowed and grabbed up a few dozen of the golden coins as he felt tears stinging again. He brushed at his eyes roughly and walked back from the vault into the cart, sitting down and picking Leo up to hold for the ride back.

When they were back outside, Harry woke Leo up and they walked around some more. It was beginning to be very late in the day but when he walked by the Leaky Cauldron and saw his godfather laughing with some friends, Harry changed his mind about renting a room for the evening. Nearly an hour after leaving the bank, an hour of purposeless walking, Harry still hadn't decided what he was going to do.

"Oh the poor dear."

"Molly, really now--you don't know who he is."

"But he's just been walking around. You don't suppose he's been left here alone, do you?"

Harry's cheeks burned as he heard the softly spoken conversation and he tried to distract himself by getting out another sucker to feed to Leo who grabbed it up eagerly.

"Molly... fine, what do you want to do?"

He never found out because someone bounced into him, knocking him over. Harry looked up to see a sheepish-looking young girl, face as red as her hair. "Oh, I'm sorry," she stuttered out, going even redder. "I-I didn't see you-"

"It's fine," Harry replied curtly, standing up and backing away. The girl ducked her head in embarrassment, still blushing.

"Ginny!" The woman who'd been talking about Harry came around from behind him and grabbed the girl. "Are you alright? What are you doing, running into people. I'm sorry young man," she said, turning to Harry when she suddenly stopped with a gasp. Harry swallowed in semi-fear as the woman reached for him in shock. "Oh my, what's happened to you?" She touched his forehead, shaking her head. "Does this hurt?"

"Uh..."

"Harry!" Harry's head shot over to see Sirius, waving his hands wildly down the street. A rush of people suddenly blocked the view between them and Harry looked around for a place to hide.

"Are you alright, dear?" the woman asked kindly. "Are you waiting for someone? I'm sorry, but we've been watched you for awhile now-"

"Harry!" Sirius's voice was getting closer.

Harry swallowed again and willed tears into his eyes. It wasn't too hard. "M-my mum said she'd come pick me up but I think something happened," he whispered and the woman's eyes went wide in sympathy. "I really don't want to stay here but there's no where else to go-"

"Harry!"

"Don't worry," the woman reassured him, hugging him. "We'll find your parents. Why don't you come home with us for tonight? My husband works in the Ministry and he'll see if anything's wrong."

Harry went rigid. The Ministry? But Sirius called out again and Harry didn't want to face the Auror so he nodded and picked up the baby bag, stiffening the slightest when the woman picked up Leo but he willed himself to relax. The young girl was still bright red and walked behind her mother in silence. Their small group reached a much larger group minutes later, after weaving through the crowd of evening rush shopping.

"Come along, this way," the woman hurried them, keeping a hand on her young daughter and an eye on Harry. "We don't want to keep the others waiting, now do we. Your bothers are probably wrecking havoc right now. When was the last time you saw the twins, Ginny?"

The girl blushed again when Harry glanced at her but squeaked out, "They were heading towards the joke store."

The woman huffed and went faster. She introduced herself as Molly Weasley, her daughter being Ginny and a year younger than Harry.

"Ah, here you are," Molly stated and stopped so fast that Harry almost collided with her. He looked around and blinked at the brightness; there was red everywhere. Actually, it was just what he assumed was the rest of the family. "I see you caught them, Arthur. Ginny was just telling me where they were headed."

Arthur turned out to be the father, holding two young boys who looked absolutely identical by their collars. His face was slightly strained. "The joke store? I caught them up to their elbows in-" He stopped and blinked at the sight of Harry. "Oh, how do you do? I see that Molly caught you. She was talking about doing something-"

"Arthur!" Molly blushed.

Arthur smiled but held out a hand to shake with Harry. "Arthur Weasley. And these are my sons, Fred and George." Harry nodded, stunned at their friendliness.

"We're twins," one informed Harry.

"II noticed."

"Mum I--oh, hello." Another young man walked up, and Harry knew instantly that he was family because of the red hair. "I'm Charlie. You a friend of Ron's?"

"No," Molly answered delicately. "He's just coming over. His parents didn't show and I was just about to ask your father if there was anything he could do to find out if anything happened."

"Oh." Charlie scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. "Alright. Anyway, Mum I found those robes you wanted."

Molly smiled but it faded when Charlie shook his head and mouthed the words 'too much.' She put on another fake smile and quickly changed the subject. "Where are your brothers, Charlie?"

He shrugged again. "Here and there. Bill's looking in about a job at Gringotts and Ron's with him." He looked back to Harry. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"It's Harry," he replied instantly. "Harry Potter."

"Potter?" Arthur looked up from his scolding to the twins in surprise. His eyes flickered with an emotion that Harry identified immediately: suspicion. "James and Lily?" Harry nodded unwillingly and Arthur looked over to Leo. "That must be Leonard, then. Where are your parents, Harry?"

He shrugged and affected a frightened tone. "They said they'd be back by now, but I can't find them."

"Hmm." Arthur and Molly shared a look, Arthur plainly saying, 'Potter?! You want to bring two Potters into the house?' and Molly answering with, 'You think I'd just leave them?' Arthur shook his head but backed down from Molly's challenging glare. "I'll see if I can find anything out at the Ministry tonight... Potter..." He shook his head again but the last two sons came up, distracting everyone from the growing tension.

"Bill, Ron, this is Harry," Molly introduced lightly. "He'll be staying at our house tonight while your dad tries to find his parents." Arthur snorted something like, "Find James and Lily Potter? Right."

"Hi," Ron shook Harry's hand.

"'lo." Harry tried to smile back but his eyes kept going back to Arthur. This was a bad idea.

*

The Burrow looked absolutely magical, so unlike the strictly muggle or at least semi-muggle homes Harry was accustomed to during his family's stay from the wizarding world. It looked as though it had first been, at some time or other, a giant stone pigpen but over the years the family had fixed it, turning into a cozy house, adding rooms as they were needed, repairing and building and fixing and raising the old structure until it's present condition. Harry counted no less than four chimneys sticking up from the roof and he thought he counted another but it was getting late and the sun was dipping into the night sky. Molly hurried the family in, Arthur behind her checking the wards of the house while Ron dutifully showed Harry where he could sleep.

Molly fussed over Leo continuously. She'd scrunch up her mouth and talk to him with long and stressed syllables in her words, sounding like, "You're a goood baby boor, aren't you? Yes you aare, you're the best little boooy!"

"So, you don't know what happened to you parents?" Ron asked after dinner in house's main room. He fiddled with his hair. "That has to be really bad for you, huh?" Harry nodded soundlessly, not trusting himself to speak. Ron cleared his throat and looked around. "Well, what do you want to do? Dad won't be home for a couple more hours at the least."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let's play some chess. You do know how to play Wizard's Chess, right?" At Harry's nod, Ron grinned and rushed upstairs to grab his chessboard. "Good, because it's my favorite game." They got started right away, Harry choosing the black pieces despite Ron's comment that the white side gets the advantage, being the first to move and all.

"Do you have to take care of your brother a lot?" Ron asked as he made a move.

Harry nodded. "Yea. My parents sometimes have to go to... work, so I get left alone."

"I know how that feels," Ron confided as he stole Harry's rook with his bishop. "My dad works at the Ministry and mum's always going off to work somewhere, too, so I get left with Ginny."

"Don't your other brothers help?"

"No, not really. I mean, if Fred and George volunteered to help me 'sit Ginny, I'd turn them down in an instant. Those two are crackers. Perce's off at school and when he's not, he's not worth putting up with. Charlie and Bill are always off somewhere."

Harry nodded sympathetically as he moved up a pawn to position it in a threatening move against one of Ron's knights. Ron scowled and ordered the knight back, bringing it off the offensive. A few moves later, however, the night was back in action, ready to attack Harry's queen. The entire game, they would switch off questions and answers, focussing on the game but getting closer with each other.

One hour and a number of games later, Mrs. Weasley firmly sent the boys to bed. Ron made to complain but stopped short at the look on her face and he dragged his feet up to his room, the same room Harry was invited to sleep in.

"I'll watch Leo," she promised when Harry asked for his little brother. "You just go to sleep."

Harry nodded slowly, casting one last look at the sleeping Leo, sleeping in a small bed that had been brought down from the attic. Molly seemed nice enough so he gave in and left to sleep.

Hours later, when true night had fallen and the sky was darker than space, Harry jerked away at the sound of a door opening. It had come from downstairs. Cautiously, he got up from bed and slipped to the bedroom's door, careful not to wake anyone else up. He opened the door and crept down the stairs, stopping when he heard the conversation in the kitchen.

"It's...unbelievable," the newly returned home Arthur was saying to his wife. "They're just coming in by the dozens, claiming to have been under some curse or spell or potion, claiming that they had no control over their actions. Most say it was the Impervious. We'd test them under some truth serum, but we've already run out and most of them are telling the truth. The Minister's offered a three-day period where any Death Eater wanting to come back and come back and be forgiven after a legal confession."

"What does it mean, Arthur?" Molly asked. "Has... has He lost his powers?"

"No... I don't know..." Harry went down a few more steps and could see Arthur shaking his head in confusion, sitting at the kitchen table while Molly made up some hot tea. "No one knows how to deal with any of this."

"The attacks have stopped, right?"

"The last one was just yesterday," Arthur replied. "Two in one day." Molly gasped. "Both at night. First, there was some fighting over in a muggle village not too far from London. No one can figure out who was there or what was going on, so the Ministry's marked it off as a minor attack." Harry's jaw clenched. Minor attack? "Then later that night, there was something in muggle London, but, like the earlier one, no one can figure out who or why. I think they're connected but I can't figure out how."

Molly sighed and stirred the tea a bit more before handing it over. Arthur smiled his thanks and took down a drink. "Have...did you find anything about the Potters?"

"No." He gave a wry bark of laughter. "I don't think I really expected to, either."

"Arthur!"

"It's true, Molly," he replied softly. "They've been in hiding for the last nine, ten years. Hiding from the Ministry, hiding from the Order, hiding from the war... hiding from it all. And all those times where we've seen Death Eaters at their house..."

"But they couldn't be traitors," Molly argued. "Not James, not Lily-"

"And not Peter, huh?" Arthur shook his head. "We've already been proven wrong before, and there's more evidence in this case than in Pettigrew's place."

"There's an explanation," Molly countered confidently. "Dumbledore's always told us there's a reason and that we shouldn't be so hasty--I tell you, we're being hasty, marking them off as traitors."

Harry's throat started to choke and he made a small sob. Molly and Arthur froze and looked up, catching Harry's eyes. "H-Harry?" Molly asked. "It that you?" He didn't answer. "What are you doing?"

"I-I miss my mum," he replied honestly, words spilling free from his mouth before he could stop them.

"Oh..." Molly motioned for him to come down and she gave him a hug. "It's alright, dear. How long have you been waiting there?" Harry shook his head and began to cry for real as the pain hit home again and Molly could only hold him while his shoulders were racked with tears and sobs. Harry hugged her back, clinging to her like she was the only constant thing in his world. In his mind, pictures of his parents screaming, burning, dying flashed over and over again, torturing him, tormenting more tears from his already weary eyes.

Molly wiped at the tears at her own eyes, sparing her husband a look that said, 'Look at him, the poor boy. He's an innocent in this war.' Arthur glanced back from his wife to Harry and his eyes softened, bringing back a look on his face that hadn't been seen since the start of the war.

At the top of the stairs, awakened by Harry's sneaking and following him unseen, the twins shared a wide-eyed look, having heard everything that was said and coming to obvious conclusions. They crept back to bed, quietly whispering a conversation that involved suspicions and decisions concerning the strangely frightened Harry Potter. When Harry came up a few minutes later, still breathing heavily with tears, the twins watched him fall asleep and listened to his ragged night breathing tossed with nightmares. They didn't sleep at all that night, too confused by the very real darkness outside in the world, trying to consume the magical world, and watching the very real affects of what coming into contact with such darkness did with a person.