A/N: As always, all the characters contained herein belong to Ms. Rowling. Please read and review.
Harry stepped into the hall of Grimmauld Place, unprepared for the fresh wave of guilt and grief that would hit him. He was here in Sirius' house, and Sirius was not here to greet him... would never be here to greet him again. Harry swallowed down the tears that threatened, refusing to show his weakness in front of Moody and Tonks. He looked around instead, noting the changes which had been made. The hall was much cleaner and most of the dark objects which had been displayed here were gone.
"Let's go Potter. Molly will have my hide if I leave you standing in the hall," Moody said gruffly. Tonks made to follow them, knocking over the hideous troll foot umbrella stand in the process and sending umbrellas skittering noisily across the floor.
"Damn!" Tonks swore. "I have got to be the clumsiest witch ever to have been made auror." Setting the stand back up, she began to gather the umbrellas and put them back.
Harry braced himself, waiting for the bellows of Sirius' mum to start, but he was met only with the enthusiastic cries of the three Weasleys who had just entered the hall. He found himself enveloped in one of Molly Weasley's warm motherly hugs, while Ron and Ginny looked on grinning.
"Oh Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "It is so good to have you back home and safe. You are entirely too thin though and you look like you haven't slept in a month. Alastor... I hope you gave those.... relatives of his what for!"
Moody grinned evilly and assured her that he had indeed made them aware of his displeasure at Harry's condition. Harry, meanwhile, was doing his best to gracefully extricate himself from Mrs. Weasley's bone crushing hug, while simultaneously wondering exactly what happened while he and Tonks had been upstairs packing his things.
"Shouldn't we move out of here before we wake Mrs. Black?" Harry murmured, thoroughly puzzled that she had remained quiet thus far. Everyone stopped talking at once and looked uncomfortably at Harry.
"We kind of don't need to worry about that anymore mate," said Ron.
"Finally got her down?" Harry asked, knowing that he was missing something.
"You could say that. When Sirius...well... you know...died, Professor Lupin decided that he should be the one to tell her." Ron continued. "I guess she started raving about how Sirius was a blood traitor and shame of her flesh."
"Fred and George were here when it happened," Ginny added. "They said Lupin went mad. Ripped the canvas down with his bare hands and tore it to shreds, with her screaming like a banshee the whole time. Then he dumped the whole mess in the fireplace and burned it."
Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. "All right you lot. I think we have better things to do then standing here gossiping about our friends. Harry, you must be starving dear," she said putting a comforting arm around his thin shoulders and steering him to the kitchen.
After consuming several of Mrs. Weasley's very tasty sandwiches, as well as a heaping bowl of stew, Harry was feeling comfortably full. Ginny and Ron had kept up a constant stream of chatter, filling him in on everything from how the Chudley Cannons were doing (abysmal) to how Bill and Fleur were getting on (exceptionally well). A lull in the conversation gave Harry the opening he'd been waiting on.
"Mrs. Weasley? Why didn't you owl me that you were coming so I could've been ready?"
Mrs. Weasley looked uncomfortable. "Well you see Harry dear..."
"It's alright Molly," Lupin said from the doorway. "He needs to know what we're facing. They all do.”
"Remus, they're still children," she said in her overprotective mother voice.
"They are children who are involved in this war, just as much, if not more than the rest of us. Forewarned is forearmed," Lupin said staring determinedly into her eyes. Mrs. Weasley nodded finally, sighing.
Lupin pulled a chair up to the table and sat next to Harry. Harry couldn't help but notice how tired Lupin looked, how sad his eyes had become. He had almost forgotten how much his godfather's death would impact this man, Sirius' best friend, his father's friend, the last of the true Marauders.
"We didn't owl you Harry because we hadn't planned on coming to get you yet. We received some news early this morning that changed that, however. The dementors have deserted Azkaban; the Ministry has lost control of them. Even worse than that though, by the time those incompetents became aware of the situation, more than half of the prisoners had escaped.”
Harry heard Ginny gasp, heard Ron murmur, "Hermione."
Lupin smiled. "Don't worry Ron. Hermione is safe. Your dad and Bill went to get her. I popped by to check on them before I came back here. They are finishing up the wards around her parents' house and should be here soon."
"What is the Ministry doing about it Professor? The dementors, I mean," Harry asked.
"They've sent aurors to guard the rest of the prisoners Harry, and are of course up to their usual practice... denying everything. Our friend Cornelius Fudge is about to lose what little support he has left... as soon as this hits the papers."
"What about Voldemort? Where is he? What has he been up to?"
"You mean aside from recruiting the dementors? There have been a few attacks on muggles, but he's keeping surprisingly quiet. Marshalling the troops I suspect," Lupin said.
"The war has really started now, hasn't it Professor?" Harry said looking him in the eyes.
"I'm afraid so Harry," he said gravely.
"That's enough Remus!" Mrs. Weasley said, her face pale.
Lupin nodded. "All right Molly, for now. Harry, Professor Dumbledore will be here this evening. He needs to talk to both of us regarding," Lupin paused for a moment as though he was having difficulty speaking, "Sirius' last wishes."
Harry closed his eyes, trying to shut out the pain. He nodded tersely, unable to put what he was feeling into words. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"C'mon mate," Ron said, his voice husky as if he too was having trouble controlling his emotions. "Why don't we go upstairs and get you unpacked?"
Harry nodded again, grateful for the opportunity to get away from the pitying looks he was receiving. He and Ron quietly ascended the stairs and entered the room they had shared last summer.
"Listen, Harry. I...well I wanted to say that I'm sorry about Sirius," Ron said awkwardly.
"I know. I appreciate it. I just... I can't talk about it yet."
"Right." There was a moment of silence while both tried to think of something to say. "So, you want to play a game of wizard's chess while we wait for Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
Happy for the change of subject, Harry grinned. "Prepare for defeat, Weasley!"
"At your hands? I doubt it," said Ron laughing and setting up the chessboard.
"Glad to see some things never changes," said a bossy voice from the doorway.
"Hermione!" Harry said as she hugged him hello.
She stepped back and looked at him. "You look dreadful."
"Gee thanks," he said grinning.
Ron, meanwhile was blushing a lovely shade of scarlet. " 'Mione," he said. "You look... um tan," he finished lamely blushing even more.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, not sure if he'd just complemented her or not. "Of course I'm tan, Ronald. My parents and I just got back from our trip. I told you about it."
"Sheesh. You don't need to snap Hermione. I was just making an observation."
"An observation? I'm surprised you noticed anything about me since I'm neither a Quidditch ball nor food, " she shot back. Things disintegrated as normal from there.
From the doorway Ginny giggled and caught Harry's eye. Harry grinned. Hermione was right, some things never change.
A/N: Hope you like this so far. I already have the next chapter written and ready to go as soon as this one is approved. Please review.