Coming Home- a Harry Potter ONE-SHOT

A/N: (PLEASE READ!) Ok, so this is my first story, thx for clicking on it! If you could give a try that would be great! It's probably gets better towards the end, as I rushed the beginning a bit… So yeah, please leave a review if you enjoy it. (or if you don't, constructive criticism is always welcome!) Also, sorry if there are any grammatical problems, I try my best. Ok, so I think that's it, on with the story!

Warning: May contain details of abuse and maybe a bit of swearing? (IDK!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that's all JKR!

Ginny Weasley was getting restless.

It had been three weeks since the term had ended and no-one had heard a thing from Harry.

Of course, Ginny (after many tireless hours of arguing with Mrs Weasley) had been denied permission to go and see if he was ok- however, she had been assured that if, by the end of the week, they still hadn't heard anything from 'The Boy Who Lived', members of the Order would floo to his house just to check up on him, and Merlin, they certainly didn't have trouble finding volunteers for that.

Still, it didn't seem enough.

Something seemed wrong. Harry said he would write as soon as he got back to Privet Drive, and it had been weeks since the start of the summer holiday. There were countless explanations of why he could have lost contact with the Weasley household, but Ginny had a feeling something was up. It was all she could do to hope he was all right.

XXX

"Fred? George?"

The two black shapes sitting at the kitchen table rose and turned to face her.

"It's Gred and Forge actually. Honestly, you call yourself our sister?"

Ginny smiled and went to sit with the red-headed twins, their faces becoming more distinguishable as she grew closer.

"So what's up Gin-Gin?"

Ginny couldn't help but cringe at the childish nickname.

"It's… it's Harry."

The twins exchanged looks.

"I suppose you're still worried?"

"Of course I'm still worried!" Ginny cried wringing her hands in agitation. "Everyone is! And after everything with Sirius… he was really upset. We need to get him out of there. He needs support, and I doubt the Dursleys will be giving him any." She said, spitting the name as if it were poisonous.

The Dursleys, Fred thought angrily. Maybe it was them who were stopping Harry from communicating with the magical world. He thought about the time he and his brothers had to rescue Harry from the Dursleys. Seems like the sort of thing they'd do…

Ginny was growing annoyed.

"Why can't we do something?"

"It's okay Ginny," George reassured her. "We'll think of something."

And that's exactly what they did.

XXX

Fred had somehow taken charge.

"Ok," he declared. "George, it will be exactly like when we rescued Harry in his second year. Ginny, we'll fly up to Harry's room and, um, collect him."

It was 6am and Fred and George had told Ginny about their course of action. They had somehow acquired another flying car and were currently drifting gracefully down to Harry's road, Privet Drive.

"I think… No, was it number five?" Pondered Fred aloud. "No, it was… Yes! It was number four," he said, and as he reached this conclusion, he let his eyes sweep the avenue.

"It's a bit… plain," he said tentatively.

"How does Harry stand it?" Ginny said. "All the houses are the same! And they're way too tidy," she whined, pulling a face.

"Let's just get Harry okay?" George said, clicking his tongue impatiently.

"Okay, okay! Right, this is Harry's window, I recognize it," exclaimed Fred.

"Fred?-"

"Honestly, we should have got him earlier. I hope the Dursleys are treating him o-"

"Fred!"

Fred turned at this, annoyed at his sister's abrupt interruption. She was facing away from him, peering into Harry's window.

"What is it? Honestly Ginny, don't-"

He stopped at Ginny's stunned expression.

"Wha- he is there isn't he?" He said frowning.

"Yeah, it's just… Look for yourself," She said quietly.

Fred and George turned towards the window.

Fred inhaled sharply.

Harry was lying sprawled on his bed wearing nothing but a pair of greying baggy trousers, his glasses askew. His nose was caked with blood and it looked like it had been broken- he also had a black eye, and an ugly gash on his forehead. His arms and chest were littered with bruises and cuts, and Fred could easily count each one of his ribs; it looked like he hadn't eaten in days.

Finally George spoke up.

"What could have happen- wait, you don't think it was Dursley do you?"

Fred's expression was enough to give him an answer.

"I knew they were bad, but I didn't know they were abusive," whispered George sadly.

"Well, you weren't the only one who underestimated them," said Fred, his voice lined with guilt.

"Guys," said Ginny, speaking for the first time. "We need to get him out of there. What if Dursley wakes up?"

Fred nodded and steered the car so it was parallel with the window. He went to the car door and jumped, grabbing hold of the window ledge, and climbed into the open window. George followed suit and ordered Ginny to stay in the car.

"Accio Harry's things!" muttered George, waving his wand. Once he had loaded the various items into the car however, he heard footsteps.

"Someone's coming!" he hissed.

"Boy!" a voice called. "You'd better still be in your room!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" murmured Harry hoarsely. He opened his eyes and let out a gasp as his surroundings came into focus. Fred clapped a hand over Harry's mouth to prevent him from crying out, as his green eyes widened in shock.

"Fred? George?" Harry rasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you of course" George replied trying to act nonchalant. "Apart from the slight situation in which your uncle is probably walking down the hallway as we speak.

A loud thumping noise near the door confirmed this suspicion.

If it were possible, Harry's eyes widened even more.

"You need to get yourselves out of here! My uncle is going to kill me if he sees you two!" Harry said urgently. Fred didn't want to wait to see if Harry was joking or not.

"Geor-"

Harry's door opened.

An enraged Vernon Dursley was standing in the doorway. His face turned purple with fury and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

He pointed a fat finger at the twins.

"F-f-freaks!" he stuttered. "Get out of my house!"

He lunged at Harry and banged his head against the sharp corner of the bed. Harry felt something warm and wet trickle down his face. Blood he thought, before spots clouded his vision and he slipped into unconsciousness, the room turning black.

"Petrificus Totalus!" cried Fred.

Dursleys arms and legs snapped together and he hit the ground with a loud clunk. Fred bent down and looked at him.

"You deserved that," he said ominously, as all his resentment and anger focused on this man, this man who had made Harry's life a living hell.

"We should do more! We should do more to you accursed bastard! Lacero!"

Fred's spell sliced across Vernon Dursley's chest, leaving behind a large cut, and causing the latter to grunt in pain.

"The body bind will wear off eventually," said George evenly. With shaking hands, he bundled the weak figure of Harry into his arms and laid him across the backseat of the car.

Fred threw one last filthy look at the man, and, careful to step on him on the way out, he followed his twin.

The car journey was reticent and even Ginny remained impassive- she was sitting quietly in the back, holding Harry's hand and whispering comforting words to his barely conscious form.

"She really does love him," murmured George to Fred, smiling.

"Well she hasn't been very discreet in showing it has she?" grinned Fred.

"How he doesn't see it I don't know."

"Ginny's going to get hell from us when this is over."

They looked at Ginny again, amused expressions on their faces.

XXX

Mrs Weasley was paranoid.

So paranoid that is, that at least half the Order were crammed into the Weasley's kitchen trying to get her to calm down. She wasn't having it. She had got up early to tell the Weasley children to de-gnome the garden, and had found Fred, George and Ginny's beds empty. That was at 6 o'clock and it was now 7:30. One and a half hours! At first she had thought they had gone to play quidditch (an early morning habit of theirs) but when they hadn't come back after 7, she got worried. Arthur had gone to the nearby field, but had come back with the news that they simply weren't th-

Her thoughts were cut short by a rumbling engine, and she sprinted outside. A rather battered looking Maruti 800 was faltering and stuttering in the air, looking as though it was trying to find the ground. After a few seconds it gave a final lurch and dropped to the ground. Molly hurried up to the car, her face already twisted into her infamous intimidating scowl. She opened her mouth, about to give a lecture, but her eyes located Harry and she quickly closed it again. All anger suddenly turned into confusion and worry.

"Oh… oh my," she whispered. "Who… wh-what happ-?"

"Dursley," Fred cut in quickly. "We need to get him inside."

Mrs Weasley was frozen in horror.

"Now!" ordered Fred sharply.

Mrs Weasley nodded. "Wingardium Leviosa," She muttered, and levitated Harry inside.

XXX

Severus Snape was, to say the least, shocked.

He had been called to the Burrow because of something about missing children. When he arrived however, he did not expect Molly Weasley to suddenly rush outside without warning and come back in levitating a very injured Potter into the kitchen.

This was Harry Potter.

Dumbledore's fearless Gryffindor Golden Boy.

The Boy Who Lived.

Yet, as Snape watched the helpless form of Potter lying feebly on the kitchen table, looking so vulnerable, he was appalled. Where was all the protection? How could something like this have happened? His first thought was that it must have been Potter's fault. The stupid boy must have gotten himself into a fight. He was, after all, a teenage imbecile. On the other hand though…

No. That couldn't be true. However, as he looked on at the injuries, he couldn't help but think they looked awfully familiar… His blood ran cold as memories of his father's abusive tendencies flitted through his mind. But that wasn't right. Potter was pampered and treated like the arrogant child he was, just like his father. If he had been abused though… Snape shuddered. He wouldn't wish that on anyone, much less Lily's son. Lily's son.

He groaned. He had vowed to keep Lily's son safe, no matter who his father was. He had failed miserably. From now on, he would look out for Potter even more, he thought, silently renewing his promise.

After all, anything for Lily.

Always.

XXX

That night, Ginny crept out of bed and into Harry's room. She sat by his bedside and began absentmindedly caressing his forehead, stroking his messy hair out of his face. There, she resumed her whispering.

"It's ok now, you're safe Harry."

"You're home."

A/N: Remember to leave a review, because I'm new and could do with support!

Thx again, Cat xx