Harry Potter rolled over in the bed, nearly falling off the edge. He caught himself, jolting himself fully awake. He groaned and flopped on his back. Rolling in his sleep had been happening to him a lot lately.
The dreams of the battle of hogwarts haunted him. The last image of Voldemort's corpse ran through his mind all the time. There was a part of him that still couldn't believe he was really dead, because he had been living with that fear for 7 years of his life.
He stared up at the ceiling, he had been calling The Burrow home for the summer. He didn't know what the next steps he wanted to take in his life were.
The Weasley's had been greatly accommodating but he felt like he was overstaying his welcome. The sun started to creep into the room from the small window and he knew Mrs. Weasley would be down in the kitchen.
Wanting to escape his own thoughts he got up, stretched and walked down to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley stood at the sink, scrubbing a cast iron pan.
She sighed and caught Harry's eye, breaking out in a huge smile, "Why good morning Harry! Care for some breakfast?"
"No thank you," he muttered, sitting down at the table, "You seem busy."
"Nonsense," she shook her head, whipping out her wand and summoning a package of sausages and eggs. She slammed a pan down on the burner, throwing several of the sausages in.
For some reason his mind immediately went back to the cabin on the rock, all those years ago on his birthday when Hagrid came to save him.
"Have... have you visited your Aunt and Uncle Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked slowly. It had been a couple months since the Dursley's returned to their house on private drive and Harry had not returned there since before they had left there.
"Um….no?" Harry muttered, drawing himself back into the room, "Would they even want to see me?"
Mrs. Weasley placed a plate of eggs and sausage in front of him, "It wouldn't hurt to see dear," she rubbed his shoulder, "they are your only family."
He nodded, stabbing into a sausage and staring at it as it hung on his fork, "Yeah...I guess," he shrugged. He could hear others, upstairs starting to stir. He thought to himself that perhaps, maybe it was time to see the Dursleys.
Hermione came over just after breakfast and agreed that it was in fact time for Harry to see his family again. Harry didn't have the courage to go alone, so she agreed to accompany him.
"How's the search for your parents going?" he asked her as they walked away from The Burrow.
"I'm getting close I think," she said, "I've been busy with this Elf Rights book as well."
"You always have so many things going on," he commented, slightly jealous that she seemed to have her life more in line than himself.
"I know…" she sighed, "I don't see you or Ron enough."
"Let's go," he held out his arm, changing the subject. He concentrated on his destination, and moments later he was standing there in front of the house.
"Are they expecting us?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't even think about that to be honest Harry muttered, "Well here goes anything."
They approached the door and memories started to flood back to Harry. The Hogwarts letters that wouldn't stop coming, Dobby telling him not to go back to school, Aunt Marge flying away and so many more. For a split second he considered walking away but before he knew it there were at the door.
Hermione reached him and pressed the doorbell. They could hear it inside following some shouting and commotion from within. Moments later Petunia cracked open the door, showing one eye.
She opened the door more, showing her whole face. She looked stunned, looking Harry up and down as he stood there.
"Hey Aunt Petunia," Harry broke the silence.
"Ha...Harry," she sounded at stunned as she looked, "I...I didn't expect you," she looked up and down the street and ushered them inside.
The house looked the same as it always had. The only thing that was missing were the photos of Dudley. Instead, to Harry's surprise there were photos of the family including himself. He couldn't stop himself, he walked up to one photo in particular.
He remembered taking it, because the photographer had asked the Dursley's where they wanted Harry to stand even though they didn't want him in the picture at all.
"I...I found that when I was cleaning out some old things," she said hesitantly.
Harry couldn't help but smile, "It's nice," he looked at her and much to his surprise she too was smiling.
She shook her head, "I found some of your things too," she shuffled over to the cupboard under the stairs, they followed her.
Inside was a box, with various things. Some books he left, some old army toys and most interestingly a stack of journals, "thank you aunt Petunia," he muttered.
She hesitated, opening her mouth and closing it, "I want to thank you too Harry, for…" she paused, searching for the words, "for everything," she pulled him into the most surprising hug of his life. It felt so warm, standing there in a place he was not use to that at all.
He patted her back, feeling a little better about his place in the world in that moment. The words in this journal in his hand however opened up something new in his mind. Something he hadn't felt for years and years, something he suppressed.
His unequivocal crush on Ron Weasley.