End of the Summer
When Harry came to, he wasn’t on the hard, cold, cement ground of Diagon Alley, on contrary, he was laying on something soft and warm. He groaned, he was in so much pain, he felt as if he had been beaten with a hundred bludgers. There was a small, whispering female voice coming from his left. Without opening his eyes, he groaned again turning over, and then his eyes fluttered open. There sat Hermione, staring back at him, she was sitting in chair next to the bed he was on, leaning close to the bed looking anxious. And behind her was a weary faced wizard in tattered robes leaning against a wardrobe, peering over her shoulder at Harry as well. Harry soon realized he was back at headquarters, in his room. And then a familiar voice from the end of his bed bellowed at him.
“Harry!” Harry whirled his head around to see his godfather sitting perched on the end of the bed.
“Sirius,” exclaimed Harry excitedly, “you weren’t supposed to be back yet.”
“We came back early,” he said grinning and motioning to Lupin, “I was hoping to surprise you, not have you scare the hell out of me.”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” said Harry shrugging it off, “just Malfoy.”
“I’m afraid Ron is going to disagree with you mate,” said Fred sitting in the corner, by the hole in the floor. He and George were wearing some of their extendable ears, obviously listening in to the conversation in the kitchen.
“Ron!” said Harry going horribly pale, ”Is he in much trouble?”
“Well, we’ll just say that Mum will only be happy when he’s finally grown up…and…” George paused listening intentionally, then spoke again mocking his mother’s voice, “if he ever expects to make anything of himself, he will not go around acting irrationally, like Fred and George. Why can’t you be more like Charlie or Percy?”
“Well, I’ve heard enough,” said Fred yanking out his device, speaking proudly, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye” though it’s good to know we’ve made such an influence on our younger brother.”
“Stupid Percy… git… not a few months ago…” muttered George angrily as they left the room, off to something else.
“Seriously though Harry, you could have gotten seriously hurt, or expelled,” said Hermione still looking anxiously at him.
“She’s right Harry,” said Lupin looking seriously at him, “you can’t keep getting into tangles with those boys. They are all part of Voldemort’s league, you are asking for trouble fighting them.”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” said Harry defensively.
“We’re not saying that,” said Sirius putting his hands in the air innocently, “just be careful, and not so rash, you could have gotten hurt.”
“It wasn’t myself I was worried about, he had Hermione,” blurted Harry, blushing slightly. Lupin and Sirius looked pointedly at Hermione who blushed a deep crimson.
“Left that part out,” said Sirius looking at her pointedly.
“I think I heard Mrs. Weasley calling me,” she said distractedly pointing to the door and walking quickly out of the room.
Now it was just Harry, Lupin and Sirius. Sirius looked back at Harry who now turned to sit on the edge of the bed, also ready to bolt. He knew what was coming next.
“Not so fast…” said Sirius getting up and leaning on the door, “Care to explain what really happened?”
“Not really,” mumbled Harry, but after a look from Sirius, he quickly recovered, and told them the whole thing from start to finish.
“Like I said it wasn’t a big deal, if Malfoy didn’t have body guards the size of Dudley, I would have been fine,” said Harry nonchalantly.
“Harry just…” started Sirius.
“Be careful, I know, why are you being so weird about this, it’s something you would have done at your age,” accused Harry.
“I wasn’t the savior of the Wizarding world either,” retorted Sirius, “or the only godson of a stubborn hardhead.” Harry grinned and shook his head; really he would do anything for Sirius. He would even try not to kill Malfoy, try being the key word.
“If it makes you feel any better Harry, Mr. Malfoy, had quite shiner on his eye when I arrived. For being a half-starved scarecrow, you are stronger then you look,” said Lupin smiling and winking as Harry proceeded to the door. But Sirius remained unwavering in front of it.
“One more thing Harry,” said Sirius, closing his hand over the doorknob, “do you fancy that girl?” Harry did not need a definition of “that girl” to know who Sirius was talking about. He looked back between Sirius and Lupin, Remus looking half-curious as well. There was no getting out of this one.
“She is my friend guys, come on, honestly,” said Harry as Sirius roared with laughter opening the door for him. Lupin grinned knowingly as if he knew something Harry didn’t.
“Not a very good lie Harry,” said Sirius as they left the room, Harry just shook his head at his father’s best friends, but flushed a little as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen.
As it turned out, Ron’s mother was furious about receiving a letter from the ministry about him using magic during the holiday. This put Ron in a terrible mood for the rest of the day; luckily Hermione wasn’t mad at either Ron or Harry about what happened. After last year, her attitude had changed about being right, and now she was working to be a little more righteous. Though everyone was a bit on edge about the afternoon’s events, things changed that evening. That night, Mrs. And Mr. Weasley had planned a dinner party for the Order. There were quite a large number of people, so they had to take down some walls by magic, so that everyone could fit in the kitchen. As well as enlarging the table to make sure everyone had a seat. The “kids” as Mrs. Weasley had put it, had to remain upstairs until dinner was ready. Ron was still on edge with is mother, and couldn’t help but have the last word.
“Are we to sit at the children’s table too mum?” he asked her kindly in a mocking tone. She scowled at him and turned on her heel back into the kitchen.
Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat upstairs in Harry and Ron’s room. Ginny who had missed out on the afternoon’s fight, was very eager to hear about it. And while Ron’s mother wouldn’t allow him to tell her, she begged the three of them to tell her anyway.
“Come on, how can you not tell me,” she begged them earnestly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances. Neither of them felt like relating the story again, especially not the full version of what happened. Harry looked at Hermione and smiled coyly.
“Hermione, why don’t you tell her what happened,” he said giving her a wink. Hermione frowned and then understood what Harry meant and grinned.
“I suppose,” she said sighing. “Well you see what happened, was the three of us were eating lunch in Magical Meals after you left and then Malfoy and his coons came over and started tormenting Harry. And Harry very well couldn’t keep his temper, but he knew he couldn’t have cursed them or he would have been expelled, and Ron had to jump in and play hero for Harry, and cursed them. Then we tried to leave, before either of them got into much trouble, but we couldn’t get out fast enough, and Crabbe and Goyle got a hold of Harry and you see. Luckily Professor Lupin came soon after he passed out.” She said motioning to Harry’s face. Ron gave a funny look, as if he were about to object but Harry nudged him in the stomach.
“Oh,” said Ginny not looking quite so convinced. Luckily she didn’t have time to formulate a doubt, because Harry smoothly changed the subject to Quidditch. Not ten minutes later, Fred and George apparated in, and announced loudly that they were expected for supper. They all shuffled downstairs and into the kitchen. The whole table was filled with people, some of them Harry knew, half of them he had no idea. A few of his professors were there, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, and even Professor Snape, who looked as annoyed as ever. Sirius was in the entrance of the kitchen, showing them all their seats.
“Hermione, you’re right here,” he said pointing to a seat on the end next to Lupin, “and Harry you’re next to Hermione.” Sirius nudged Harry and gave him a wink. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Honesty Sirius,” he said exasperatedly.
“Don’t mention it, any time Harry,” he replied winking again. Harry shook his head and sat down to Hermione’s left. Sirius sat next to him. Ginny and Ron sat across the table from himself and Hermione. Soon everyone was settled in their seats around the now circular table. It had a very King Arthur feel to it, Harry thought. But it was defiantly a group, an order, as it were. Harry couldn’t remember a night he had so much fun in a long time. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, even Professor Snape, who was deep in discussion with a wizard Harry didn’t know. He smiled once or twice, which was much different then the cold smile he usually gave Harry. Sirius told stories about the marauders and some of the crazy things they did. Lupin would add odd and ends to the story when he felt Sirius would over exaggerate the story, which was more often then not. Though Sirius’s stories were so much better then what really happened probably, Harry thought. Hermione and Ginny giggled across the table about her and Dean’s budding summer romance. While Ron, Fred and George whispered quietly across the table, no doubt about something they didn’t want Mrs. Weasley to hear. But she was to busy talking with some other witches about cooking tips. And Harry thought she actually might have been a bit too tipsy to care about whatever Fred and George were up to.
When the party finally broke up about three in the morning, Harry strode upstairs with Ron to the room, and flopped on his bed contently. Exhausted but exhilarated, he dreaded going to back to school in another week. Even though Harry was so happy, he could tell Ron was not. Ron had also lain on his own bed and snapped out the lights, but he hadn’t said anything since they came upstairs.
“What’s up Ron, long day?” asked Harry as he adjusted on his bed staring at the ceiling.
“Harry, can I ask you something?” he asked apprehensively also staring at the ceiling with a concentration.
“Sure, what?” said Harry coolly, not expecting anything radically alarming.
“Do you like Hermione, as more then just a friend?” asked Ron looking over at Harry, so as to see his reaction. Though Ron couldn’t see it in the little light of the moon, Harry’s eyes widened. Harry was hardly expecting to be harassed by his friend about this too.
“No, that would be weird, why do you? Where did you hear that? I’m going to kill Sirius,” said Harry angrily still staring at the ceiling.
“No, of course I don’t…that would be weird, I was just asking, Sirius didn’t say anything,” said Ron hurriedly, “I just thought, we never talked about that, just as long as we agree.” Ron and Harry fell silent for a minute, then Ron spoke again. “You would tell though, wouldn’t you?” he asked worriedly.
“Of course, but I don’t” said Harry turning his back to Ron now. “Night Ron,” he said falling into a deep sleep.
“G’night Harry” said Ron who started dozing as well.
The last week of summer, went by fast, luckily, Sirius didn’t have any missions during most of the week. Harry supposed Dumbledore didn’t want him out and about too much. So Harry Sirius, Ron, and Hermione hung around Grimmauld Place, playing cards, and wizards chess. Hermione usually read, but sometimes got in on the Quidditch conversations they had, which really confused Ron and Harry. She had been acting really odd during the summer, though they didn’t have enough time to figure it out. The morning before they had to leave to Hogwarts, Sirius announced that he and Lupin were leaving again.
“Sorry, Harry, another mission for the Order,” he said as he was about to leave, with Lupin who had some black bags in hand. “I don’t want to say too much, but I think I’m going to see you a lot sooner then you’ll miss me.” Harry felt a bit dejected about his leaving, but trusted Sirius’s last words to him, knowing that he would never lie about something like that. Besides he and Ron had major cleaning up to do, they would be leaving for school the next morning. Ron and Harry entered their room, and Harry winced. They hadn’t cleaned up at all while he had been there. They exchanged glances, and knew there was no avoiding it, set to work, which took them most of the day. And after dinner that night, they had almost everything packed to go. They both crashed early, knowing that the train would be much earlier then when they would like to get up. And morning came quicker then they wanted.