Snitches get Stitches

Harry, once again, woke up sick as hell. And, once again, while he threw up in the loo, he swore he was done drinking.

It always made him feel better in the moment and then twice as miserable the next day. Harry had still been dumped by Mandy and then he made himself sick on top of that.

Harry literally added injury to insult.

Remus knocked on the bathroom door while Harry was spitting the last of the cinnamon flavored bile in the toilet.

“I have a potion, if you want it,” Remus said after he poked his head in. “You have school.”

“I’m not going,” Harry groaned. He gripped the back of the toilet tightly to pull himself to his feet and quickly took the potion from Remus, desperate to get rid of the shaking queasiness that his drinking had left him with.

“See? You’re fine now,” Remus said cheerfully after Harry swallowed the potion. “Shower, breakfast, school.”

“Remus…” Harry blinked very quickly when his nose stung and he thought he might cry. “Mandy broke up with me. I just- I can’t see her today, please.”

Remus frowned at Harry and Harry cowardly dropped his eyes to the sink. Harry didn’t get a chance to tell Remus about Mandy the night before. By the time Harry returned from her house, Kevin, Veronica, and Ethel were there. Harry had just asked Ethel if she would swipe him a bottle of the liquor he liked and then Harry sat out front to drink it.

The last thing he felt like doing was celebrating anything.

Harry wasn’t entirely certain how he made it back inside, still in his dress pants and white shirt from the trial. The last thing he remembered was… talking to Lip, maybe.

Remus sighed quietly and then caved.

“Fine,” he said. “One day to mourn, then tomorrow you have to go to school, Harry.”

“Thanks, Remus,” Harry said gratefully. Harry took a hopeful sniff of food that smelled much better when he wasn’t dying from a hangover. “Is there food downstairs?”

“There is,” Remus said with a small smile. “I’m surprised you can smell it over yourself though. Shower, we can have breakfast before I leave. As I’m apparently the only responsible one in the house.”

Harry stuck his head out the bathroom door to call after Remus.

“You joined a gang, Remus! You’re a secret criminal!”

“And don’t forget it!” Remus called back.

Harry had a ridiculous bout of crying in the shower when he saw the shampoo he got for Mandy to use when she was there. She had said that Harry’s soap made her hair tangle and Harry checked what kind of soap she used at her house to get an identical bottle for his house.

It didn’t make any sense.

Mandy was Harry’s best friend. They did everything together. She broke him out of the hospital and he lied to the police for her family. Everything had been going great, Harry didn’t understand why Mandy would just… be done.

Harry loved her.

He just thought she loved him too.

When Harry slumped down at the kitchen, dressed in just a pair of sweats, Remus gave him a sympathetic look.

“Eat,” Remus said. He put a plate of food on the table across from Fred and Harry had to force himself to sit down. All of Harry’s prior appetite had disappeared, even if it smelled delicious.

It was quiet for a minute. Harry just scraped his fork through his eggs, thinking of Mandy and ignoring Fred’s curious look. If Fred felt even half as miserable as Harry did after their breakup, then Harry couldn’t imagine why Fred was still around.

Harry didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at Mandy without falling apart completely.

“Did I ever tell you about my first girlfriend?” Remus asked after a while. Harry looked over at him and shook his head.

If Remus was about to say how he had been dumped and completely understood how Harry felt then—

“It was your mother.”

“What?!” Harry’s irritable thoughts about not wanting to hear Remus’ story disappeared and he and Fred both gawked at Remus. Remus was smiling wryly with a fond look in his eyes.

“You dated Harry’s mum?” Fred asked, he laughed when Remus nodded. “I bet his dad was furious!”

“Oh, he was,” Remus agreed. “There was a time during our sixth year that James and I weren’t speaking. During that time, I decided to ask Lily out. I had never had a girlfriend before her, per se.”

“What happened?” Harry asked curiously. “I mean why weren’t you and my dad speaking?”

Remus pulled a face and then smoothed it away with a sip of the coffee he loved so much.

“Sirius and I had a terrible fight and James took his side,” Remus explained. “I didn’t blame James, they were all but brothers by that point. But I was just irritated enough that I asked Lily out. I didn’t expect her to say yes, but we were together for a little over five months.”

It had never occurred to Harry that his parents would have dated other people before they got together. Even if Harry had thought of it, he certainly wouldn’t have guessed that his mum dated Remus.

“Wow.” Harry took an absent bite of his food, just processing that information.

“What happened for you two to break up?” Fred asked Remus. “Did she leave you for James?”

“No.” Remus chuckled as if the idea was completely absurd, which made Harry grin a little. “She caught me in a rather compromising position with someone else. Technically, neither of us dumped the other, but the hex she sent was quite clear.”

Harry wanted to be indignant on his mum’s behalf that Remus cheated on her, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t know they had clearly patched things up.

“Who was it?” Harry asked Remus curiously.

Remus sighed and got a wistful look on his face.

“Dorcas Meadows,” he said, smiling softly.

Harry started to—

“And Marlene McKinnon.”

Harry’s jaw practically hit the table and Fred let out a positively delighted laugh.

“You’re…” Harry blinked at Remus, once again wondering how anyone fell for his kind professor act. “You’re a bit of a slag, aren’t you?” Harry asked with a slow grin.

“A bit, yes,” Remus agreed pleasantly. “Imagine my teenage delight when it became an open secret that I was a werewolf and instead of disgust I found many of my classmates wanted the experience of finding out if sex with me was much better than with other boys.”

“Is it?” Fred asked with a teasing grin.

Remus rolled his eyes at him.

“Of course it is.”

Harry made a mental note to get every single story Remus had about his school days out of him at some point. Clearly he had plenty of good ones to share.

After Remus left for work, it was awkward between Harry and Fred. Harry didn’t quite know what to say to him and all his thoughts were once again centered around Mandy.

Harry decided to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen up. He saw Ethel in her back lawn from the kitchen window and he tapped on the window and waved at her. Ethel waved back and then went right back to hanging clothes on the line that Kevin installed for her to use.

“You want to go do something today?” Fred asked while Harry wiped down the stove. Fred had jumped in to help clean when Harry started and Harry was mildly amused to see him using muggle products.

“Not really, no,” Harry said truthfully. All he wanted to do was lay in bed and mope. Maybe try and call Dudley later, definitely try to text Mandy again.

“I thought maybe you’d want to go to one of the wizarding cities?” Fred suggested. “Andromeda left your gold yesterday. We could go check out the closest city and convert your money to dollars?” Fred grinned at Harry and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a bit of a self-serving offer though, I wanted to check out our American competition for the shop.”

Harry was going to say no again, but then he considered it. It would be nice to have money that he didn’t have to steal. Remus was using Sirius’ credit card to pay their bills and he’d been buying groceries with his own money. Harry should probably chip in, take some of the load off Remus’ shoulders.

“Fine,” Harry agreed. “I’m taking my cloak though.”

“You’d have to,” Fred agreed seriously. “Otherwise you’ll have to put on a shirt.”

Harry flipped him off on his way upstairs to get a shirt and shoes, but he did smile just a little as well.

Harry felt an immense sense of freedom beneath his cloak. Sure, Fred looked like a lunatic while he kept talking to Harry as they walked, but Harry was just gone.

It was excellent.

Fred kept up a steady stream of one-sided conversation while they walked out of the residential neighborhood. Fred swore that he knew the apparation points for the closest wizarding city, in Indianapolis, and they just needed a safe place to apparate from.

“Brilliant,” Harry breathed from beneath his cloak when they did arrive.

The city, Hoosier Hills, Fred said, was larger than Diagon Alley by a long shot. While Diagon Alley had a few lanes lined with shops, Hoosier Hills was an entire hidden city.

They had appeared beneath an archway with a red and white sign welcoming them and everything beyond that was so magical that it made Harry’s chest ache some.

There were slick black buildings on the street they were on, dozens of floors high. Harry thought they must be apartment buildings judging from the different flags and banners that hung from the balconies. People were flying through the skies in a mixture of brooms, cars, motorcycles, even flying carpets.

Harry actually laughed when he heard a flying carpet let out a loud honk at the red light that hovered in the air.

There were advertisements hovering everywhere, actually moving around as they displayed products for sale at various stores. All the prices were in American dollars, which was unexpected.

Harry couldn’t even think about Mandy in the moment while he appreciated the feeling of magic all around him.

“Come on,” Fred said eagerly. He still had a hold of Harry’s hand that he’d taken to apparate them and he looked as impressed as Harry was.

Harry was so excited to explore the city unhindered that he took his cloak off and stuffed it in his backpack with the suspiciously small bag of his money.

It wasn’t that Harry thought Andromeda robbed him, it was just that the bag barely weighed more than Harry’s cell phone and he was certain he had more money than that in his vault. At a minimum, there should have been at least five hundred galleons, since Harry couldn’t convince Fred to let him give more than that toward his shop fund.

The two of them ran down the streets, still holding hands, laughing as they pointed out things that were so different from what they were used to. Harry had been right about his guess regarding the two tall buildings, they had a sign in front of them calling them Hoosier Homes and listing the prices for rent.

Fred nearly fell over laughing when they passed a playground across from the apartments where a little boy rode around on a toy dragon that flew him only inches off the ground.

“I’ve got to get Charlie one of those for Christmas,” Fred said.

“I think he’s a bit too big,” Harry pointed out, despite the fact that he was snickering at the mental image.

They hesitated at the end of the street, torn on which way to go. There was a handy map that listed all the sights, shops, and services in either way. Harry very much wanted to check out the quidditch park if they went right, but Fred suggested they went left first to go to the bank.

The bank, sitting between a clothing store and a posh looking restaurant, was an unassuming brick building. There were no warnings about theft, no guards watching the doors.

Fred dropped Harry’s hand to open the door and Harry’s jaw fell open as soon as he stepped inside.

The outside of the bank made it look like a normal sized building, perhaps even a bit small. But as soon as they stepped inside, it was just as large and grand as Gringotts had been. The biggest difference were the employees. There wasn’t a single goblin in sight, only regular witches and wizards in smart clothes sitting behind counters with lines of others waiting patiently.

“This is so weird,” Fred whispered to Harry when they got in line behind a harried looking man who was tapping a loafer on the marble floor.

“Very odd,” Harry agreed. It was brilliant, but strange.

Harry dug out his vault key and bag of gold from his backpack while they waited. Harry wasn’t certain if he needed the key or not, but he figured it was better to have it ready just in case.

When it was their turn, Fred hung back so Harry could approach the counter by himself. There was a witch smiling politely at Harry behind the counter and Harry returned her smile a little nervously.

“Hello,” Harry said. “I’d like to exchange some money?”

Harry’s hopes that nobody would recognize him in the States was shot down quickly.

“Of course, Mister Potter,” the woman said politely. She began tapping away at a keyboard in front of her. “We did wonder if we would have the honor of opening your account here or not. The Hoosier Hills Bank is pleased to help you with your finances. Now, would you like a checking or savings account?”

Harry hesitated, caught off-guard.

“Neither?” he said. “I, er… just wanted to get muggle money.”

The woman laughed as if Harry had said something terribly amusing.

“Surely you don’t want to carry your cash around on your person?” she asked. “If you open a checking account, we have fee-free transactions for all purchases made within the country. I believe it’s a nominal fee when used intentionally. And depending on your deposit, we do offer handsome interest rates for savings accounts.”

Harry knew his face was red as he stammered out an explanation of being expelled that the woman only tutted at.

“And that excludes you from the financial security that all witches and wizards are entitled to?” she asked. “No. Now, if you open an account today then I can offer a 2% cash back bonus on all purchases made from non-magical stores over the next thirty days.”

“Er… okay,” Harry said hesitantly. He watched as the woman began tapping away again while she talked about interest rates, retirement funds, and other terms that Harry didn’t understand.

“Here.” A vial popped through the woman’s keyboard and she handed it to Harry while her eyes were still on the screen. “Spit, please.”

“Alright…” Harry felt incredibly stupid as he raised the vial to his lips and spat. When he handed it back to the woman, she pushed it through the counter and after a second a sleek silver card popped up in the same place.

“This will be for your checking account,” the woman said when she slid the card to Harry. It looked like a normal muggle card with Harry’s name stamped on the front and a series of numbers on the back. “And how much will you be depositing today?”

“I have… no idea,” Harry said. “It’s all in galleons, sickles, and knuts, is that okay?”

The woman crinkled her nose but nodded so Harry dumped his bag on the counter between them. And that was when Harry realized that the bag must be charmed because a lot more gold fell out than Harry expected.

Harry was blushing furiously when Fred shot him an amused look across the lobby at the noise he made.

“Sorry,” Harry muttered to the woman. She waved him off and then slid all the coins in a sack at her side of the counter.

“And with the conversion rate…” A slip of paper appeared where Harry’s card had before that. “How much would you like to convert to savings?”

Harry stared at a number so large it was almost incomprehensible. Harry had no idea what the galleon to American dollar conversion was, but it seemed to have worked in his favor.

“Er… Half of it?” Harry guessed. It seemed like the responsible thing to do, especially if it earned annual interest… which Harry would need Fred to explain exactly what that meant.

When Harry left the bank, after setting up his address for statements to be sent to, he could feel his card burning a hole in his wallet.

Harry and Fred exchanged grins. It was familiar. If Harry closed his eyes, it was almost fourth year at Hogsmeade again.

There was no awkwardness or tension, just two people who instinctively knew how the other operated.

Harry knew Fred wouldn’t have fun until he checked out the joke shop, which wound up being just a section inside a huge magical toy store.

Fred saw Harry’s fingers twitching and knew he was dying to check out the flying equipment available. They spent nearly two hours in the three story shop and Harry was delighted to be able to rent two Firebolt 500’s to use in the quidditch park.

Harry was fairly certain that he was only able to rent them because the shopkeeper recognized him, but it had been the good kind of recognition where the shopkeeper stuttered some but didn’t think Harry was a death eater.

In fact, everyone who recognized Harry was perfectly pleasant. Harry wasn’t mobbed for handshakes or sneered at with distrust. There were just friendly smiles and a wave here or there.

Fred suggested they get lunch after flying. It was probably because he could see that Harry was a wreck when he had to return the broom.

“I haven’t flown since… since we flew last,” Harry told Fred during lunch. With his feet on the ground and picking at a cheeseburger and American french fries, Harry couldn’t help but think of Mandy.

Mandy loved American french fries.

“I’m trying to be respectful and not prod, but you seem really bloody unhappy,” Fred said. He looked across the table at Harry with his Fred-ness and Harry couldn’t hold his tongue.

“Mandy broke up with me last night,” Harry said. He kept his eyes on his plate because if he saw any sort of glee or ‘I knew it’ type of look on Fred’s face then Harry would probably explode.

“Bloody hell.” Fred didn’t sound smug, he sounded surprised. Harry risked a quick glanced up and saw that Fred was making a very sympathetic expression.

It wasn’t fair to ask Fred, it really wasn’t.

Harry asked anyway.

“Does it always feel like your chest was cracked in half?” Harry asked quietly, choking up on his words some.

Fred’s hand twitched on the table as if he wanted to reach out and stopped himself.

“If you really love her, yeah,” Fred said just as softly as Harry. “It might get better with time. I’ll let you know.”

Harry tried to return Fred’s weak smile, but he figured that they both just looked like two heartbroken blokes.

They did some shopping after that. Mostly at the sweets shop, a brightly colored bakery that sold pastry boxes guaranteed to keep the contents good for at least 10 days—

“That would have been handy to have at the Dursleys,” Harry grumbled as he bought it.

—and Harry got a few sweaters from a clothes store they stopped at.

By the time they were ready to apparate back, Harry was disappointed to leave. Fred must have been able to sense it - there used to be nobody who knew Harry as well as Fred Weasley did - because he squeezed his hand tight before they left.

“It’s just a pop away,” Fred murmured. “You’re still a wizard, Harry. You could get your apparation license and come here everyday.”

Harry nodded even though he still felt horribly nostalgic. Harry was hardly a wizard without a wand, but at least he knew a place he could fly if he wanted.

That was something.

Harry’s mood continued on a downhill climb as soon as they returned from Indianapolis to Chicago. Fred took them to an alley a few minutes outside of the neighborhood.

“For the record, I think Mandy’s a moron,” Fred said just before they turned on Harry’s block.

“Or not.”

Harry’s heart soared when they turned and a familiar head of black hair stood in front of Harry’s house. Mandy turned when she heard footsteps and Harry hoped he didn’t imagine her look of annoyance that was aimed at Fred.

“Mandy, hey.” Harry literally ran from the end of the block to where Mandy stood and his smile was nearly painful. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Please take me back, I’m so sorry. I was high. I was drunk. Mickey dosed me with meth and I was out of my mind completely. It was a really fucking bad joke.”

Harry’s mind ran through a dozen different things he hoped Mandy would say while she remained silent until Fred got the hint and went inside.

“You moved on quick,” Mandy said with an adorable huff and glower.

“What? With Fred? No.” Harry swung his hand out to grab Mandy’s and was thrilled when she laced her fingers in his.

“I love you,” Harry told her, staring right in her eyes.

The day with Fred had felt like a trip down memory lane. But it wasn’t Harry’s future. Harry wouldn’t spend his days in a magical city where he was just… half a citizen.

Fred’s future was magic, Harry didn’t know precisely what his was, but magic would only ever play a small part in it.

Except for his broomstick because Harry forgot how freeing it was to just fly.

Mandy looked down at their linked hands shyly and then peeked up at Harry through her thick lashes.

“I love you,” Mandy said softly. “But we just… listen, I’ve got to tell you because your fucking neighbor said he would if I didn’t, but…” Mandy’s eyes filled with tears and Harry didn’t know what to do.

“Don’t hate me, please,” Mandy begged as a few tears spilled free. “Even if you don’t want to be together, you’re like the best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Mandy…” Harry grabbed her other hand as well and squeezed them tightly, trying to put all his feelings in the touch. “I could never hate you,” Harry swore with as much meaning as he could. “I love you.”

Harry did love her. To the bottom of his heart, he knew he loved her. Harry would die for her, which sounded incredibly dramatic even though he knew it was absolutely true.

Mandy sniffled and wiped her cheek off with her shoulder as Harry refused to release her hands.

“I’m pregnant,” Mandy whispered to the ground.

Everything froze.

Pregnant.

Mandy.

Mandy was pregnant.

Harry, very briefly, considered how Remus was absolutely going to kill him.

And then… pregnant.

With a baby.

With Harry’s—

“And I don’t know if it’s yours.”

The image of a little black haired baby suddenly disappeared and Harry dropped Mandy’s hands.