Snitches get Stitches

Mandy Milkovich didn’t have a friend in the entire stupid fucking world. She always knew that, but it didn’t suck so badly until the morning she woke up to her brother literally shoving her out the front door.

“Terry fuckin’ shot himself,” Mickey said as he half-carried and half-pushed Mandy out the door before the fucking sun was even out. “Get the fuck out of here and don’t come back until I find you.”

And that was it.

Mickey just shoved Mandy outside in her tank top and shorts in the middle of November and Mandy didn’t have a single fucking place she could go.

Mandy just started walking with feet that were frozen on her very first step. It wasn’t the first time that someone in their house accidentally shot themselves. The usual to-do list was to drag their ass to the ER or empty the place of drugs, guns, and paraphernalia if they had to call for an ambulance there.

It seemed like Terry needed an ambulance. Mandy’s heart was real fucking broken for him.

It was Terry’s fucking fault that Mandy didn’t have a single place to wait out the bullshit at.

Terry and his… his fucking blackouts were the reason why Mandy walked her neighborhood at five in the morning, barely dressed, and six weeks pregnant.

Harry hated her, Mandy knew he did. And who the fuck could blame him? He looked so fucking Happy when she said she was knocked up - as if she would keep the fucking thing - and then Mandy saw how much it hurt him when she said it might not even be his.

Mandy hated hurting Harry.

Harry was the only person in the entire fucking world that loved. Except for Mickey, but Mickey had to love her, Harry chose to.

It was better for Harry to hate her than to be disgusted with her. And either option was better than Harry trying to get her to keep what might be some fucked up incest-baby with nine toes and three eyes.

Mandy started walking toward the Greyhound station - it would at least be fucking warm there - while she thought of a different baby that could be growing in her stomach…

A little baby with black hair… maybe Mandy’s nose… hopefully Harry’s eyes… It would be so cute and tiny…

Mandy just didn’t want it.

Mandy didn’t like kids, didn’t have any interest in getting fat and giving up cigarettes for nine months. Mandy would be a shit mom and would raise a fucked up kid, if it didn’t end up being taken before it could walk.

Harry might make a good dad, but Mandy got all the pamphlets from Planned Parenthood. She could only get rid of the thing for three and a half more weeks and a paternity test would take at least three weeks and nearly four hundred dollars to take.

Mikey had three hundred he was kicking in for the abortion, Mandy couldn’t risk wasting the money on a test on the off chance that Harry wanted the thing. She still had three hundred more to get for the abortion anyway.

Mickey told her to get it from Harry, but Mandy couldn’t ask him.

It wasn’t fair for Harry to pay for an abortion when it might not even be his fucking baby. Mandy and Harry fucked like a lot, sometimes with a condom and sometimes not. Terry… Terry never used a condom.

If Mandy wanted to do the math, it was more likely to be Harry’s, but it only took one strong swimmer to ruin someone’s life…

… and Mandy was shit at math anyway.

Mandy reached the bus station and was fucking frozen when she curled up in a chair in the arrivals area. If anyone asked, she could say she was waiting on her cousin or something.

All that mattered was that Mandy wasn’t freezing anymore and if someone wound up losing a wallet so she could buy something to eat from the vending machine then that was their problem. If it took Mickey too long to find her, Mandy knew other ways to get a guy to buy her food.

It wasn’t like Mandy had anyone she wanted to stay loyal to anymore.

Mandy had curled in a little ball in her comfortable chair and had her head laying on her arm with her eyes half-closed. There was a bus unloading and the chatter of happy people all around Mandy was almost enough to make her move.

But then Mandy saw an easy mark at the same time her stomach grumbled and she decided to swipe some cash, get food, and then go nap on the departures side of the station.

There was a chick that entered the station from the most recent arrival and she had the wide and startled eyes of a tourist. She was probably around Mandy’s age with pretty light brown skin that was mostly hidden beneath an expensive looking coat.

The chick also had a suitcase on wheels in her hand and a purse that was hanging loosely off the other arm.

Mandy stood up and started walking in her direction while the chick seemed lost and tried to orient herself. Mandy didn’t look at her, she just kept her hair over the left side of her face so the chick couldn’t identify her too easily.

Not that Mandy didn’t stand out in her tank top, blue pajama shorts, and bare feet.

“Oh, sorry!” Mandy intentionally tripped over the black suitcase and knocked it to the ground. She acted flustered while she bent down at the same time as the chick to grab the handle.

Mandy was just about to snatch the purse that had fallen when the other girl bent down as she spoke up.

“My mistake,” she said in a familiar voice. “I’m afraid this is all rather new to me.”

Mandy looked up right in the chick’s voice and the hormones that the fucking sack of cells in her stomach caused tried to make Mandy cry.

Mandy didn’t know the chick, but she had the same accent as Harry and just hearing it made Mandy want to start bawling.

“Oh!” The chick was standing back up before Mandy could snatch the purse and she was smiling widely at Mandy. “I know you!”

Mandy really fucking doub—

“Mandy, right?”

Mandy straightened back up and crossed her arms over herself defensively while she looked the other girl over. Mandy was so sure that she had never met her before, but she was smiling at Mandy and seemed just as certain that she did.

“Oh! Sorry!” The girl laughed and held a hand out for Mandy to shake. “I’m terribly jet-lagged and didn’t even realize… I’m Hermione Granger, Harry’s friend. He’s sent me loads of photos of you!”

Mandy felt so fucking terrible that she didn’t even try to shake Hermione’s hand. It was the sweetest fucking thing that Harry told his friend about her, but it wasn’t like he would anymore.

“Do you know how to get to Harry’s house from here?” Hermione asked, not even realizing that Mandy didn’t shake her hand. Hermione looked all around and then smiled prettily at Mandy. “I printed off a map, but I bet you know exactly how to get there!”

Mandy didn’t even get a chance to tell her to find the house herself before Hermione let out a laugh and then shook her head.

“I’m so sorry again!” Hermione said with the same smile. “You’re probably here waiting for someone, aren’t you? Harry doesn’t know I’m here, it’s a surprise, so of course he didn’t send you! Are you waiting on someone or headed somewhere?”

Mandy once again didn’t even get a chance to answer before Hermione noticed her state of undress and frowned.

“Oh, it’s rather cold out, isn’t it?” Hermione asked. She glanced at Mandy’s feet and bit her lip for a second. “Um… do you have shoes?”

Mandy was beginning to think that Hermione just liked the sound of her own voice.

“Here! I have a spare pair of boots!” Hermione said. She looked around and then began dragging her suitcase to an open chair. “They might be a little big on you, you have smaller feet than I do, I think. But they’re very warm and I don’t need them back.”

Mandy wanted to tell Hermione that she didn’t need any fucking pity shoes, but it was cold as fuck out.

“Thanks,” Mandy said when Hermione handed her the pair of brown boots that had a soft tan lining on the inside.

“Of course!” Hermione said. “It’s mental to be outside right now, hypothermia is so dangerous. My parents went to Aspen one winter and their friend from work, oh, my parents are dentists, they take care of teeth, anyway—”

Mandy started to wonder what Harry said about her to his friend for her to think Mandy didn’t know what a dentist was. Mandy was poor, not retarded.

Hermione continued to talk while she dug around in her suitcase. She pulled out a soft sweater that looked like it was actually hand-knit in a periwinkle blue that she tossed to Mandy.

“Fred’s mother- did you meet Fred? I’m going to smack him upside the head if he’s still here. I told him to leave Harry alone. Clearly you and Harry are quite happy and Fred should learn boundaries. Anyway, his mother made me that sweater. Harry should have some as well. Do you two do that thing where you wear each other's clothes? Oh! I knew I had a pair of leggings in here! Here! Ugh. I wish we could go get breakfast together! I’m starving and terribly curious to hear all about Harry- and you, of course!

“I’m sorry!” Hermione laughed and finally took a chance to breathe. Her cheeks turned a little red, like she was embarrassed or something. “I had a lot of coffee,” she explained. “I’m not keeping you, am I? We have plenty of time to get to know each other!”

“I was just hanging out,” Mandy said with her arms full of the clothes Hermione gave her. “I can, like, show you how to get to Harry’s place, if you want?”

“Really?!” Hermione lit up and smiled like Mandy was her favorite person in the world. “That would be brilliant, thank you! We should stop for breakfast though, I’m starving. It’s criminal the type of food they offer on airplanes. Do you know where we could get a normal salad? Not that you need one,” Hermione said quickly, “you have a great body. Do you hang out here often? It’s a peculiar place to hang out…”

One time Mandy had seen an actual tornado. She had been like maybe eight? It tore through Chicago and Mandy peeked out the windows of the trailer they lived in at the time and she actually saw the wind that was so fucking crazy it ripped the roof off the neighbor’s trailer and sucked it up in the sky.

Mandy kind of felt like that roof when Hermione dragged her to the bathroom so Mandy could pull her clothes on and then linked their arms together to walk out of the bus station together to find food.

“I can’t believe how lucky it was that I found you!” Hermione said with another cheerful smile when they made it outside. “I’ve always wanted a girlfriend. I mean, Harry and Ron- Fred’s brother, our other closest friend -are brilliant, but I can just tell that you and I are going to be such good friends.”

Mandy figured that she only had like an hour of being friends with Harry’s friend before she hated her like everyone else. But since Mandy had no one, it was an hour that she was willing to take advantage of.

Hermione calmed down some when they made it to the closest diner to the bus stop, Patsy’s. Mandy wasn’t going to order anything but Hermione practically made her when Mandy asked for just a glass of water.

“You have to eat!” Hermione cried. “I can’t eat in front of you, it’s terrible manners! Please? Oh! We could get different meals and then try each others! I’ve never been to the States before but I heard they have very unhealthy food.”

Since the diner sold breakfast and lunch all day, Mandy ordered chicken strips and fries while Hermione ordered a veggie omelet. Once the waitress left, Hermione folded her hands all prissily on the table and smiled at Mandy.

“This is quite lucky that I found you,” Hermione said again. “A man at the airport I flew in at tried to mug me, it was awful. My parents warned me that it was dangerous to travel alone, and now I’m not alone. So!” Hermione laughed. “I will try very hard to be quiet, everyone says I talk too much, I’m just terribly excited. But I’d like to hear about you. Harry said you two go to the same school?”

“Um… yeah,” Mandy said. She felt self-conscious when she compared herself to Harry’s friend. Hermione was like Victoria’s Secret levels of pretty and she wasn’t even wearing makeup. Hermione also talked a fucking lot, but she sounded so smart.

And Mandy looked like a knocked up fifteen year old whose brother threw them out of the house so he could call an ambulance for their dumbass dad.

Hermione looked like she was waiting for Mandy to say something else so Mandy twisted a napkin between her fingers while she tried to think of what to say.

“How long have you known Harry?” Mandy asked.

“It feels like eons!” Hermione gushed. “But I suppose I’ve only known Harry for a little over four years. We met at school as well.”

It figured that Hermione went to the same snotty private school that Harry used to. Hermione’s coat probably cost twice of all of Mandy’s clothes put together, and some of her jeans had been stolen from Hollister.

“Harry seems so happy in the pictures with you,” Hermione said earnestly. “He had such a terrible time before he moved, I’ve been so worried. Harry’s really the only brother I have.”

“You two are related?” Mandy asked curiously.

Hermione was obviously at least half-black and had almond shaped brown eyes. Hermione was also kind of curvy, her tits were noticeable even with the coat on and she had an ass that Mandy would kill for. Harry was strong, but like the skinny type of strong, and he was white as fuck with round green eyes.

If someone told them they were related then they were lying.

“Not biologically, no,” Hermione said with a light laugh. “It’s silly, really. When we were younger I had told Harry that he needed to study and he asked one of our classmates, Parvati, if all sisters nag so much. He apologized later, you know how sensitive he is, but I was just thrilled that he considered me his sister. I always wanted siblings, but my mother had a terrible time getting pregnant with me and so they never tried again.”

Mandy crushed the napkin she had been shredding between her fingers when Hermione brought up pregnancy. It was super fucking uncomfortable for a moment between them before the waitress literally saved Mandy’s ass by bringing their food.

“Thank goodness,” Hermione sighed after thanking the waitress. “I don’t know if I could make it to Harry’s without eating first. Does he live very far?”

“No,” Mandy said while she poured ketchup in a pile beside her food. “It’s like maybe half a mile?”

“Good,” Hermione said. “I’m not even sure how I’m still awake, I haven’t slept since before I left London!”

Mandy assumed it was the fuck ton of coffee that Hermione drank, but she just took a bite of her chicken and shrugged.

Hermione couldn’t talk much while they ate, but she did offer Mandy a bite of her omelet. Mandy didn’t usually like mushrooms, but they smelled good so she tried a little bite.

“Fuck, that’s amazing,” Mandy moaned, surprised by how good they were. “I guess the baby likes mushrooms.”

Hermione cleared her throat and leaned across the table to stare hard at Mandy before Mandy even realized what she had said.

“I’m sorry,” Hermione said slowly. “The what likes mushrooms?”

Harry was rather surprised when he woke up at nine, much too late for school. Harry had planned to ask Remus for one more day to skip, it was a Friday after all, but it seemed as if Remus gave it to him without Harry having to ask.

It was kind of him, and much needed.

Harry didn’t think he could get through a day of… any of it.

It was one thing when Mandy broke up with him for no reason. That hurt, badly. But it felt a lot better than- than…

Mandy was pregnant, and it might be Harry’s. Which meant that it might not be Harry’s.

Harry was either a dad or an idiot who ignored his friends when they tried to tell him that Mandy slept around.

There was so much to think about that Harry couldn’t imagine going to school and trying to focus while his mind was firmly in the future. Mandy would have to do a DNA test, a thing Dudley recommended when Harry called him yesterday.

Dudley actually had a load of good advice…

Harry had went straight to his room and locked himself in and called Dudley immediately after Mandy told him. He had just began to explain when Dudley abruptly hung up on him and then called back ten minutes later…

“Remember my mate? Westley? The one that you said reminded you of your mate Ron because Ron’s last name is Weasley and they both like chess?” Dudley reminded him when Harry was too shocked to properly care about Dudley’s friend.

“Alright,” Harry said, an acknowledgment and not agreement.

“Guess what?” Dudley held up a piece of paper covered in scrawls from top to bottom. “His mum is a family lawyer.”

Dudley’s mate’s mum said that if Harry wanted to be involved in what might be his child’s life from the start that he had to file for a DNA test to be done.

“They’re bloody expensive and take weeks to get,” Dudley groaned. “D’you reckon there’s something quicker one of your lot can do?”

“Dunno.” Harry was diligently writing down everything Dudley said and added a ‘magic?’ next to the DNA test comment. “Maybe, I’ll ask Remus.”

If the baby was Harry’s, then even if Mandy didn’t want Harry around (something that might hurt Harry even more than her cheating on him had), a judge could decide which of them had the baby on different days.

“Split custody,” Dudley explained knowingly. “It’s why Piers only lived in our neighborhood during the summers. His mum had the rest of the year.”

“Shame that wasn’t reversed,” Harry muttered, thinking of the many times Piers had beat him up.

Harry had another note to try and reach out to Andromeda again if the test said Harry was the father. Harry had a criminal record in the magical world, but Mandy was a muggle. Would they have to go to court in the magical or muggle courts?

If it was muggle and Andromeda couldn’t help Harry again, Harry had Dudley contact his mate’s mum again and ask if she would represent Harry if the baby was his. She wouldn’t, not from England, but she had given Dudley a list of lawyers in Chicago that were recommended.

“I told her a bit about the situation,” Dudley said after listing off numbers for Harry to call. “I told her you’re a good bloke, Harry. I reckon that Mandy would be mental if she didn’t want you to be involved with the baby.”

“Thanks, Big D,” Harry said appreciatively.

Dudley smiled then, wide and genuine.

“Blimey. I might be an uncle!”

Harry thought Dudley would be a second-cousin, or something like that, but Dudley seemed thrilled to maybe be an uncle and so Harry kept his technicalities to himself.

It was just the maybe that was driving Harry mad.

Every time Harry had begun to think about what his baby - his actual family… someone that Harry would love and cherish and that would possibly love him as well… - would be like, he thought again about how Mandy didn’t know if Harry was the dad or not.

Harry wondered if his kid might get red hair like his mum’s… and then he pictured them as a blonde.

Harry thought about whether his baby would be a witch or wizard or not… and then he imagined them in some other bloke’s arm while he kissed Mandy.

By the time Remus found Harry the night before, Harry was a wreck and Harry wasn’t altogether surprised that Remus didn’t even wake him for breakfast.

Harry crept down the hallways, trying very hard to not disturb Fred who was using the guest bedroom, and he cracked open Sirius’ door to look in that bedroom. Harry had avoided it since Sirius left, it always made his chest ache, but then Harry looked around the room with a new set of ideas.

Just beneath the window, Harry could put a rocking chair. Somewhere that he could rock his son or daughter in his arms and just watch them sleep. Against the far wall, Harry would put their crib… although Harry thought he might prefer to be in the same room with them… the room was big enough, Harry could put a cot in there if he needed to.

The empty closet could be filled with tiny clothes in all different colors. Harry could practically see a little red hand-knit sweater from Mrs Weasley hanging up in the mixture. If Mrs Weasley still included Harry on her Christmas Jumper list, Harry would save all of his child’s jumpers for them to give to their child one day.

And the walls that were stark white… Harry would paint them. Something cheerful that children would like. Maybe light blue? Or yellow? Harry grinned a little when he imagined having a daughter… he would paint the room with pink—

No, not pink. Ginny said once that she had a pink bedroom until she was eight and she hated it.

Actually, yes, pink. If Harry’s daughter hated having a pink room then he would repaint it for her. As many times as she wanted, Harry would change the colors of the walls.

If Harry had a daughter. Because Harry might not be the father.

Harry was much more disheartened when he made his way down the stairs as he realized that all of his ideas, all his plans, centered around if the baby was his or not. And Harry could only determine that by having another conversation with Mandy and asking her if she would get a test done if Harry covered the cost.

Talking to Mandy was the last thing he wanted to do, but it had to be done if Harry wanted to have time to start planning for what might be his chums. Harry was hurt that he had always defended Mandy when people called her unkind names and then she went and did precisely what they had been accusing her of.

For just a single moment yesterday after Mandy said she was pregnant, Harry felt the same way he had when he spotted the Triwizard Cup in the maze:

Excited, elated, shocked.

Then when Mandy said it might not be Harry’s, Harry felt exactly like he had when he and Cedric grabbed the cup at the same time and it jerked them away:

Horrified, furious, shocked.

And as Harry sat on his porch with a pack of cigarettes and a beer, not giving much of a damn that it wasn’t even ten in the morning yet, Harry still just felt shocked.

A baby was a big thing, possibly the biggest thing of Harry’s entire life. Harry thought he should probably feel terrified at the prospect that he was the father, but he couldn’t find any real fear inside him.

Harry liked kids, truthfully. Harry liked holding Liam when he was at Ian and Lip’s house. Harry liked helping Debbie when she needed someone to build things for her toys. And Harry liked seeing Ethel push her baby boy Jonah around the block in his stroller on the two days a week she got to see him.

Harry couldn’t find any real reason to be scared. He supposed that he didn't actually know how to be a parent, but neither did Fiona and she was raising a whole house of kids just fine. With Fiona on one side of Harry and Kevin on the other, Harry figured he could get plenty of advice about being a parent. Even Remus was brilliant as he filled Sirius’ abandoned shoes as Harry’s guardian.

It was strange, because Harry had never truly thought about being a father before, but his heart ached with the hope that the baby would be his. Having his own little family… it would be everything Harry had ever wanted.

Harry had finished his beer and was already on his third cigarette of the day when the front door opened and Harry was surprised to see Remus stepping outside. Remus looked as if he had just woken up, his hair was sticking up at strange angles and he only had a pair of sweatpants on.

“You’re here,” Harry said, surprised. “I thought you’d be at work?”

“I called off,” Remus yawned. He messed up his hair even worse and then sat beside Harry with his arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Give me a smoke, you little fiend.”

Harry held the cigarette pack out for Remus and waited until he lit up to ask the most important question he had.

“Remus, is there a spell to do a DNA test on a baby?” Harry asked.

Remus actually choked on his inhale and Harry waited until he finished coughing to repeat himself.

“It’s rather important,” Harry wheedled him. “Muggle tests take weeks, is there any quicker way to know?”

Harry wished Hermione was there. She would know immediately if there was such a spell and she wouldn’t hold a hand up and finish her cigarette before she told him.

“Why do you want to know?” Remus asked slowly, staring Harry down speculatively.

Harry thought that was a rather daft question to ask.

“Er… because if the baby is mine then the lawyer I talked with said I can start applying for custody before it’s born,” Harry explained.

“A lawyer?” Remus’ eyebrows flew high on his forehead and he looked unreasonably confused. “Harry, surely you don’t want to keep the child if it’s yours?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Harry asked him, a bit cross at the question. “Remus, if it’s mine then it’s mine. Do you think I’m just going to skip off in the sunset and not be in my child’s life?”

That was one of the most insulting things Harry had ever heard and he’d been insulted multiple times in rather large ways recently.

“I thought that you would do the responsible thing and get an abortion,” Remus said. “Be serious here, Harry. You’re not ready for a child.”

“An abortion?” Harry repeated. “Why the hell would Mandy get an abortion?”

That was terrifying to even imagine. Even if the baby wasn’t Harry’s, Harry couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt Mandy for the baby to die.

It was sad that Remus and Tonks lost their baby, Remus clearly didn’t like to talk about it, but it was cruel of Remus to imply that it would be ‘responsible’ for Harry’s baby to die.

“Because you are both fifteen,” Remus said in a heated tone. “You don’t have a job, a home of your own, reliable assistance to raise a child. It’s not a pet, Harry. I understand why you might want a child, but get the abortion now and have children later.”

Harry got the sudden impression that he had misunderstood what an abortion was when Remus mentioned it before.

“Did you choose to have your baby die?!” Harry asked as he jumped to his feet, horrified. Harry had felt so terrible when he met Andromeda and Tonks while he prepared for his trial. He thought that it was terrible that Tonks’ baby died and she had to go to a clinic to have it removed. But if what Remus was implying was right, then… then she chose to kill it. That was mental, it was sick.

There was no—

“What did you think an abortion was, Harry?” Remus asked as he too stood up. “The fetus isn’t a child. It doesn’t have feelings or thoughts, it doesn’t even have a true human form yet.”

Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW?!” Harry yelled, beside himself with shock and sickness. “HOW DO YOU KNOW IT DOESN’T HAVE FEELINGS? Bloody hell, Remus! My parents died for me and you think I would kill my baby?!”

“You don’t even know that it is yours!” Remus yelled right back. Someone opened the front door of the Gallagher house, but Harry was too caught up in the argument to check who it was.

“I KNOW IF IT IS THAT I’M NOT GOING TO KILL IT!”

“You are thinking like a child,” Remus said harshly. “You are too immature to raise a child even if it is yours. There is more involved than just loving it!”

“How would you know?” Harry screamed. “You killed your only child!”

“HARRY JAMES BLACK!”

Harry ripped his glare away from Remus and looked past him to the Gallagher porch. It wasn’t Fiona who screamed Harry’s name though - and how would Fiona know his middle name? - because she was staring at Harry and Remus with her mouth open and her eyes popping out.

“You absolute MORON!”

Harry recognized that voice at the same instant that he turned around on the porch and saw Hermione storming up the sidewalk toward him. Hermione had a suitcase in one hand and her others was wrapped around Mandy’s hand, pulling her along.

“What…?” Harry didn’t think he drank that much, but he also couldn’t find any rational explanation for why Hermione was in his neighborhood with the girl who might be pregnant with Harry’s child right beside her.

“I might not be your father, but if I were you then I would say it is an excellent time to defuse your friend before she explodes,” Remus said coolly from where he sat back down on the swing.

Harry would have agreed, but that was before a police car came squealing up to their house, its sirens were louder than even Hermione’s prior scream had been.

Remus jumped right back to his feet at the same instant that Fiona jumped off her porch and jogged quickly to join Hermione and Mandy on the sidewalk.

Harry wasn’t sure what the fuss was about over a single police car, then two blokes exited the car and had guns drawn and pointed at the porch. Neither of them were Tony and neither looked like they were there to return Sirius from a pub.

“Harry Black?” One of the officers looked directly at Harry and Harry’s throat was too dry as the gun was pointed at him to do more than nod.

“What’s this about?” Remus asked. He wrapped his arm around Harry’s shoulder tightly, their previous argument disappearing as Harry’s heart raced while the two officers slowly approached him with their guns still drawn.

Fiona was doing an excellent job at blocking Hermione and Mandy from approaching, though both girls were screaming a mixture of insults at the officers.

“LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE! HARRY DIDN’T DO SHIT!”

“YOU HAVE A GUN POINTED AT AN UNARMED FIFTEEN YEAR OLD! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!”

“Harry, don’t say anything,” Remus whispered quickly in Harry’s ear while the police were approaching. “Not one word, nod if you understand me.”

Harry nodded and felt faint when his hip throbbed with phantom pain the closer those guns got to him.

“Hands on your head, son,” one of the cops said firmly. “Sir, back away. Down on your knees, now.”

Harry didn’t know what else to do other than precisely what he was told. Harry put his shaking hands on top of his head and slowly sank to his knees. Remus continued to whisper to Harry even as he obediently took a step away from him.

“Harry, on your father’s grave, I will get you,” Remus was hissing to Harry. “Just keep your mouth shut. No English, understand? No. English.”

“Harry Black,” one of the officers slowly stepped up on the porch while the other held his position in the middle of the yard. “You’re under arrest. I want you to really slowly lay down on your stomach and keep your hands in sight as you move them behind your back.”

Were they arresting Harry for the robbery he got shot at? Why had he even done that? If Harry had a record, he could kiss his possible child goodbye before he even met them.

Harry looked for Mandy behind Fiona as he slowly laid down just as the officer told him to. Mandy was crying, clutching hard to Hermione. Their eyes locked for a moment and Mandy shook her head while Harry wished he could apologize for what he thought about her after finding out she cheated on him.

“Nobody move,” the officer still in the yard demanded while the other one put handcuffs on Harry’s wrists behind his back.

“What charges are you arresting him under?” Remus demanded while Harry was practically lifted to his feet.

“Harry James Black,” the one with his hand on Harry’s shoulder said, “you’re under arrest for murder. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

Harry’s hearing went fuzzy and he couldn’t breathe while he was pushed from his porch to the backseat of the car. Harry wanted to scream, sob, claim innocence, but it was taking all of his concentration to keep the black spots in his vision from overtaking him.

“Murder?!” Mandy yelled. “Who the fuck do you think he killed?”

“HARRY DIDN’T KILL ANYONE, YOU UNINFORMED AND UNPROFESSIONAL BUFFOONS!”

“You should get home,” the second cop said to Mandy coolly. “Your brother could use you, I’m sure.”

“What? What the fuck does that mean?”

Harry was being shoved forcefully in the backseat when the officer said the name of the man Harry was supposed to have killed.

“Your dad’s dead and it looks a hell of a lot like your boyfriend did it.”