Tragedy avoided

Harri ate lunch surrounded by her friends. She was glad this new book finally felt like it was going somewhere. She didn’t really understand why they had to read about her home life. In her opinion, learning the Dursleys were still vile wasn’t all that helpful. She was looking forward to hearing about the World Cup, though. Now that her counterpart was at the Weasleys she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. As if the books were no longer invasive. Harri could honestly say the constant prying into her innermost thoughts, and home life was starting to grate on her nerves. She pushed the thoughts away and let her gaze drift over to Fred, who she had caught seeking glances at her throughout lunch. She had promised herself she would find the courage to speak to him during this break, and she had every intention of fulfilling that promise.

It didn’t take Fred long to notice her gaze on him and to turn his attention away from his conversation with George. Harri tilted her head toward the door she had just summoned before excusing herself from the table, hoping Fred would take the hint. She did not wish to encourage George or Charlie to tease the two more than they already had been. She wasn’t sure when Charlie had picked up on whatever was happening between her and Fred, but he had and had not wasted a single opportunity to see if he could make her blush during lunch by mentioning Fred. Harri stepped through the door and onto the roof of the Astronomy tower, her hands wrung in front of her as she waited. After several minutes, she worried she would have to go back out and actually ask Fred to speak with her in front of everyone. Much to her relief Fred appeared just as she was about to go and get him.

He sent her a lopsided grin as he joined her on the ground, “Sorry I took so long. I wanted to make sure no one was paying any attention when I left the table. You seemed to want to keep this private.”

“Thanks,” Harri replied as she searched for the words she wanted to say. This was turning out to be more challenging than she thought it would. Before she could get lost in her thoughts, Fred reached over and poked her in the forehead.

“None of that,” he demanded. “It’s just me. Whatever you’re worried about, we’ll figure it out together.”

Harri batted his hand away from her. It was just like Fred to try and put her at ease. It made her feel a little silly for being so nervous around him.

“I’m supposed to come live with you at the Burrow this summer,” Harri began, unsure how to put her thoughts into words. “Is that going to… I mean, what if… and your mum…”

Fred raised an eyebrow at her gibberish. “You know it helps if you speak in full sentences,” he teased gently. “But I think I understand what you’re asking.” Fred cupped her face forcing her to keep her gaze on his own even as her cheeks reddened. “I meant it when I said nothing has to change. Even if you decide you want nothing but friendship from me. I won’t make living at the Burrow miserable for you, Harri. I want you to come either way. And should you choose to pursue more with me, then mum is going to be a little weird about it, but she’d not turn you away. We’ll have a thousand rules we’ll have to follow, but rules were meant to be broken.”

At Fred’s words, Harri let out a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding. Relief filled her to the brim.

Fred groaned as he rested his forehead against hers, “Merlin, I’ve done this all wrong if I can physically see how relieved you are at my reassurance. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Harri asked, confused. What did Fred have to be sorry about? She was the one that doubted him. Doubted he would be there for her no matter what happened. Doubted her place in his life and his in hers.

“I never meant to put any pressure on you. I see I’ve clearly failed there,” Fred explained as he pulled away from her to lie on the ground and over his eyes with his arm. “I would never take a home away from you, Harri. Never. The fact you thought even for a second I would withhold a loving home from you if you didn’t live up to my expectations…” Fred trailed off, unable to finish the train of thought, clearly upset.

“It isn’t… I didn’t mean it…” Harri began frantically trying to fix this huge misunderstanding. “I never thought you’d make living at the Weasleys miserable for me or even try to stop me from coming to live with you. I just… Me moving in with you doesn’t just affect me; it affects you too, and I just thought maybe it’d, I dunno, be nice to be on the same page about it all. If I decide I just want to be friends and that hurts you, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in your own home. And if I did decide I wanted more, I didn’t want to hide it from Molly. This is all new to me. I just didn’t know what to expect.”

Harri didn’t protest when Fred pulled her down to lie with him as he reassured her once more, “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together. And for your information, my mother would murder us if we hid a relationship from her and denied her the opportunity to mortify us every second of the day.”

OoOoOoO

Cassandra

Cassandra saw a rare opportunity present itself as Molly Weasley sat alone. She was waiting for her husband to return from his conversation with Hagrid, so she made her way over. She had been meaning to speak to Molly for a while now, and after seeing her reaction to the twins in previous chapters, her curiosity was piqued. Cassandra knew it was none of her business, and she had no right to pry the way she was about to. She would gracefully leave matters well enough alone if Molly did not want her in insights, but she felt as if she needed to try.

“Do you mind if I sit?” Cassandra asked, gesturing to the empty chair next to Molly.

“Not at all. Help yourself,” Molly agreed pleasantly. “When was the last time we chatted like this? After the twins, I honestly can’t remember having any free time left for visits.”

“It had been a while,” Cassandra agreed. Her duties as a Mind Healer and Cedric had kept her extremely busy, and her tentative friendship with Molly had come to an end. She couldn’t fathom how Molly and Arthur had raised seven children and were willing to take in more. The prospect of all those personalities competing for Molly and Arthur’s attention was one of the reasons she wished to speak to Molly.

Molly turned her gaze away from where it had wandered to watch her children back towards Cassandra and demanded abruptly, “Well then, you best get on with it. I know that look, Cassandra. We’ve lived next to each other long enough. You’ve got something you want to say you probably shouldn’t or have no business speaking about.”

Cassandra braced for what she was sure would not be a pretty end to this conversation before she began, “Then you should also know I won’t force my opinions on you. I just want to help Molly. It’s up to you to decide if you want it.”

“Since you’ve come to this room, anytime you’ve sat down to speak to anyone, it’s to give your advice. I’m not sure I want to sit here and listen to you tell me what you think I’m doing wrong. My children have grown into exceptional people or are on their way to being exceptional. I’ve got seven of them to worry about, two more that aren’t blood but might as well be, and a third who shall be with us for the foreseeable future whether he likes it or not. That’s a lot to deal with without you messing around in my head and putting ideas in it.”

“I’m not here to dispute that you have seven wonderful children, Molly. Nor is there an issue with Harri, and Draco coming to live with you,” Cassandra placated, ignoring the slight jab Molly had aimed at her character. “I want to help. Harri’s going to need a lot of extra attention while she learns what it is to live in a healthy home, Ron’s confidence lives in the gutter, and balancing between giving him what he needs so he doesn’t feel like you abandoning him for Harri is going to be hard enough. You add in Percy and the twin’s constant bickering because the twins feel like you’re alienating them, Percy feeling as if no one respects him, and Ginny, who feels like she’s all alone, even with six siblings. Not to mention the mountain of issues Draco is going to come with. I just fear you and Arthur aren’t going to have the time to deal with it all without help.”

“The twins think I’m alienating them? Ginny feels alone? Why would Percy think we don’t respect him?” Molly’s head swam as her children’s issues were listed for her. Despite not wanting to hear how Cassandra thought she had failed as a mother, she wanted what was best for her children. Wanted them happy.

“From what I can see, the twins don’t think you’ll ever see them as individuals. I can’t say I exactly disagree with them. If I had to guess without actually speaking to either of your boys and just what I’ve picked up from their comments, they don’t understand why you seem to measure them by their academic achievements and not who they are or what they can do.”

“I see my children,” Molly snapped defensively. “There is nothing wrong with wanting them to do well. Wanting them to have a secure future.”

“Even if the Ministry isn’t where the twin’s passions lie? Even at the cost of their happiness?”

OoOoOoO

Percy

Percy had allowed Bill to drag him to a lunch table with the rest of their siblings, and Percy was pleasantly surprised to be well left alone. He wasn’t sure if it was Bill’s warning looks shot towards the twins or the uncharacteristic outburst he had had by teasing Fred about Harri. Either way, spending time with his siblings was pleasant without being the butt of a joke. While they were loud more often than not, Percy would be far more willing to deal with that more often if it wasn’t for the constant jabs his siblings seemed to make about him. Even Ginny, whom he was the closest to, wasn’t above joining in at poking fun at him.

“Percy,” Bill’s voice drew Percy out of his thoughts, bringing his attention to his eldest brother.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a minute for us to talk?” Bill questioned hesitantly.

“About?” Percy asked curiously. He knew that face. It was Bill’s wise older brother face, and Percy felt seven all over again, ready to be scolded for getting into Bill’s personal stash of candy.

“Well, it’s a matter I’d rather discuss in private,” Bill admitted, eyes darting around the table at their younger siblings.

Percy scrunched his eyebrows together. What could Bill possibly want to talk about? Did he think Percy’s outburst was too much? Had he failed to live up to being a good older brother the way Charlie and Bill were by finally giving the twins a taste of their own medicine? Was he going to get a talking down to?

“Alright,” Percy agreed and stood. Might as well get this over with as soon as possible.

Percy followed Bill into another room and waited patiently for Bill to say whatever it was he was going to say; sure it was going to be a scolding.

“I’m proud of you,” Bill said, surprising Percy, “I want you to know that before I say anything else.”

“Okay?” Percy replied, completely confused. This wasn’t going at all how he thought it would.

Bill ran a hand through his hair before continuing, “I know you don’t always see eye to eye with the rest of our siblings, and I know there isn’t a lot of common ground you share with them, but I do see that you try. I know you just want what’s best for them, but maybe you don’t know how to connect with them sometimes. And I wanted to talk to you about that.”

Percy looked away, ashamed. It was true. His interest and those of his siblings just didn’t align. He preferred his studies and further his education and long academic debates over Quidditch, not to say he didn’t enjoy watching Quidditch. He hadn’t missed a single match his siblings had played in. It just wasn’t his entire world. And while he did want what was best for his siblings, he had tried to push them into studying more or not being nuisances to the staff of Hogwarts or other students; his younger siblings seemed to resent him for it. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong. None of them ever listened to him.

“I’m not saying you’re a bad brother,” Bill said, drawing Percy out of his inner spiral.

“You’re not?”

“I’m not,” Bill assured, reaching out to place a supportive hand on Percy’s shoulder. “I just think you need help connecting with them better. For their sake and yours.”

“And how do I do that?” Percy wondered how desperately he wanted to know the answer to this question.

“For starters, you’ve got to loosen up a little bit around them,” Bill said as if it was the easiest thing in the universe to do. If he gave the twins an inch, they would take a mile.

“I’m not saying you have to let them get away with murder,” Bill continued before Percy could argue. “I mean, like today when you finally stood up for yourself. You can be firm and fun at the same time, Percy. Joke with them, play games with them, and make time to get to know them instead of what their school records say about them. The twins give you so much grief because you let them. Stop scolding them for it and give it back as you did earlier. They will respect you far more if you do. Trust me.”

OoOoOO

Harri

Narcissa had caught Harri exiting the room she and Fred had disappeared into. Despite not trusting Nascissa as far as she could throw her, Harri was pleasantly surprised to find her lessons rather fun. Narcissa had a way of speaking that made you want to listen to her for hours, and Harri was eager to learn how to do that. Harri doubted anyone ever ignored Narcissa when she spoke. No, Harri was sure Narcissa would not permit such behaviour. While learning about purebloods was boring, learning about how those same families could benefit not just her but her friends as well was rather interesting. Alliances sounded tedious, but when explained how said alliances got laws made and gave one a leg up on the competition in business, Harri thought of Hermione. How much further could Hermione go if Harri made the right allies? How much could Hermione change the wizarding world for the better with the connections Narcissa was promising Harri could make? Harri wasn’t sure how much she could trust any of Narcissa’s words, but it gave her a lot to think about.

Harri was relieved when Moody called them all to gather around to learn a Privacy charm, for she didn’t think her brain could take anymore. Harri allowed her body to go into autopilot as she practised the spell Moody had given them. It was nice not to have to think. She had always been better at doing. When Moody released them, Harri let herself be dragged to a table with Hermione and Ron. She was ready to just enjoy herself with her friends. No more worrying, no more lessons. However, this was not to be because as soon as they had sat, Professor Sprout was making them all do Potions with her. Which, again, Harri thought was odd. She was, however, happy for the chance it gave her to finally bridge her two friend groups.

“Come on,” Harri said as she pulled Rona and Hermione over to sit with several Slytherins.

“But Harri,” Ron protested, pulling at the wrist she had firmly grasped. “All the Gryffindors are over there.”

“I know,” Harri stated, not stopping her stride until they were standing at the table Blaise sat at.

“Do you mind if we join you?” Harri questioned, already knowing Blaise wouldn’t turn her away.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at her but gestured for them to sit. Harri beamed at the boy and bullied Ron and Hermione into chairs next to Daphne and Tracy.

“Oh, come on, Ron,” Harri pleaded when she saw Ron was going to protest, “It won’t be that bad. Hermione deserves to partner with people who actually know what they’re doing, and we could use all the help we can get. They’re really nice, promise.”

“Speak for yourself, Potter,” Blaise snorted, though a smile tugged at the edge of his lip. “If he doesn’t want to sit with us, let him go.”

“I’m not leaving Harri here with you lot,” Ron snapped, crossing his arms, clearly annoyed at this seating arrangement.

Despite Ron’s unwillingness to mingle with the Slytherins, Harri thought it went reasonably well. Hermione had warmed up the second she realized the Slytherins did, in fact, know what they were doing and were willing to discuss the potion and its steps with her. Harri had a pleasant conversation with Daphne about her snake, and they made plans to hang out again. However, Harri could have done without Blaise talking Hermione into a study group. She feared for her free time if the two of them ever banned together in a pursuit to make her and Ron study.

OoOoOO

Draco

Draco had gone to find his godfather while everyone else did Potions with Sprout. They had a Potions teacher already, and Draco refused to learn from anyone but him.

“Can you believe this?” Draco asked as he reached Snape gesturing towards where the rest of the students all sat at attention, hanging off Sprout’s every word. They never gave Snape that kind of respect.

“It’s none of my concern,” Snape drawled, seemingly unworried. “If Professor Sprout wants to try and drill Potions into those dunderhead’s skulls, let her try. We have more pressing matters to discuss.”

“Have you spoken to my mother then?” Draco asked hopefully. He needed her to end this dreadful spell.

“She is unwilling to end this nonsense,” Snape informed him, slicing through what little hope Draco had.

“What am I going to do?” Draco moaned, fist balled at his sides. “I can’t go live with those blood traitors.”

“The way I see it, you have two options,” Snape said, unsympathetic to his plight, “Either you keep your mouth shut and pretend to learn whatever lesson your mother wants you to and end your punishment. Or you make your stay at the Weasleys so unbearable for every one they send you back to your mother.”

Draco’s eyes widened now that was a thought. He hadn’t thought of that. He would be given unrestricted access to both Harri Potter and Ron Weasley. He was sure he could find loads of dirt on both of them.

OoOoO

Harri.

Harri lay on the ground next to Ron and Hermione, staring at the ceiling. After their potion lesson, Ron insisted that the three of them hang out, and Harri readily agreed. It was nice being with just the two of them. It was almost as if they were still at Hogwarts, enjoying the little free time they shared. Harri was tempted to take a nap and let her brain rest, for it had been given far too much information today.

“Do you think we could talk?” Hermione asked, and Harri groaned at the nervous way Hermione fidgeted next to her. Harri was sure she wasn’t going to like this.

“I guess,” Harri agreed, deciding it was better to see what Hermione wanted now rather than later. The sooner this was over, the sooner Harri could go back to relaxing.

“I think it would be best if we amended the sharing rule. I think you should tell us when you’re in pain, even if you don’t want to. In the book, you weren’t going to tell us your scar was hurting, and I don’t think that’s right. Your scar is connected to You-Know-Who, and you could have been in danger, and we wouldn’t have known.”

Harri turned to frown at Hermione. She wasn’t sure she agreed with her logic. While she could see Hermione was just concerned about her well-being, Harri still felt like this fell into the category she would tell them if she wanted to.

“I don’t know,” Harri finally said, turning away from Hermione to stare at the ceiling again. “I don’t think you have the right to demand I tell you. I know you care, and I promise I’ll try to be better about telling you stuff like that, but I don’t think I should have to.”

“But…” Hermione tried to protest, but Harri shook her head, annoyed that the tiny bit of peace she had gotten today was ruined.

“No buts,” Harri stated as she came to a stand. “Neither of you has a scar, and this rule would be largely unfair to me since I can’t ask the same of the two of you. I’m going to go take a walk.”

“That went well,” Ron said sarcastically from his place on the ground.

“I’m just worried about her,” Hermione huffed as she turned her attention away from Harri’s retreating back to Ron. “She didn’t have to storm off that way.”

“Just let her calm down. You sprung this on her out of the blue and she’s got enough to worry about right now. She’s right anyway. Harri will tell us if something’s bothering her when she’s ready. Pushing her or demanding it of her isn’t going to work.”

“But don’t you think she should tell us if she could possibly be in danger?”

“I trust Harri to come to us if anything is seriously wrong. She has in the past,” Ron shrugged unconcernedly. 

OoOo

Molly

Molly sat stock still as her mind whirled. Cassandra had left her with a lot to think about. She felt as if she was drowning in issues. There was so much she hadn’t even realized. She still didn’t know what to do about the twins. She wanted what was best for them but didn’t want them miserable. She had so much on her plate now, and she wasn’t sure how she and Arthur would handle it. She just wanted her children to be healthy and happy. Was that too much to ask for? Everywhere she turned, a new problem manifested, leaving her with yet another piece of herself crumbling. Merlin, what exactly had they agreed to with taking both Harri and Draco? Not that she regretted their decision to take the two. Molly was no longer sure she could hold her family together and give the other two children what they needed as well. She was just one person.

 OoOo

Harri walked around the room aimlessly, more than a little annoyed at Hermione. She had been enjoying her time just basking in her friend’s presence until Hermione demanded what she did. She was tired of talking about her feelings today or learning. She had just wanted to relax.

“Harri, wait up,” she heard Cedric all out, and she was tempted to keep walking. She doubted she had it in her to deal with anymore today, but she stopped, not wanting to be rude.

“Hey Cedric,” she greeted when the boy had caught up to her. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to fly again,” Cedric grinned at her. “Dumbledore’s busy talking to McGonagall, and I figure we had a little time before we had to go back to reading.”

Harri considered his offer before answering, “Only if you promise no discussions about feelings, rules or school.”

Cedric sent her a bewildered smile before shrugging, “Sure, I can promise that.”

Harri let Cedric lead her to a room where their brooms awaited them. Harri wasted no time in mounting her broom and shooting into the sky. She wasn’t sure how long they spent playing tag or just zooming around the room, but Harri could admit she needed this. It was the kind of uncomplicated thing she could admit she needed more of in her life. She liked that about Cedric. He had a way of just putting her at ease. When he suggested they take a break for flying, she agreed readily.

“So, I take it I’m not allowed to ask you what had you in such a foul mood?” Cedric asked as he stretched out on the ground.

“Correct,” Harri answered merrily. “That would be breaking your promise.”

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” he asked her, amused.

“You’re the one who agreed to my terms and conditions,” Harri shrugged as she stretched out next to him.

“True,” Cedric agreed as he turned towards her, lying on his side. “You looked like you needed a friend, is all I meant. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m just saying I’m always willing to listen. But I understand you’re probably tired of talking. It probably seems that’s all you’ve done since we’ve gotten to this room. If you ever need someone to just sit with in silence, I’m willing to do that too. Whatever you need, Harri.”

“Thanks.”