He reached over to pull himself to the warmth that he knew was supposed to be next to him. When he reached for nothing but the mattress, he woke up completely. It took him a few moments to get his eyes to cooperate and open. It took another moment to orient himself. He groggily lifted a hand and rubbed at his gritty eyes and reached over for his glasses. It had to be late morning, for Ron had already woken and gotten dressed. As he looked at the clock on the bedside table, he was startled to find that it said 12:25 pm.

For a moment, Harry thought he had just woken up from a normal sleepover at Ron's. He usually felt happy and content when he woke up however, and he wracked his brain to figure out why he didn't feel that this time. It was then that he heard the ruckus coming from downstairs. He strained his ears to figure out what was happening.

"…what you did to him last night!" That's Mrs. Weasley, he thought.

"I had to stay with him all night while he was hysterical!" Was Ron fighting with his mother?

"I'm sure that wasn't much of a sacrifice for you to stay in the same bed as him, huh? I have a right to see him! He's my godson!" The second he heard Sirius's voice, something in his brain clicked and he remembered. A sense of dread filled his stomach.

"After what you put him through yesterday, you have no right whatsoever to him!" Things were getting heated downstairs so Harry got out of bed to try and diffuse the situation. He kept quiet on the stairs and when he rounded the corner into the kitchen, he found Sirius and Mrs. Weasley standing on opposite sides of the table, both looking red faced. Ron was standing behind his mother glaring daggers at Sirius. If looks could kill…

"What's going on?" His voice was small and hoarse, probably from crying last night. Sirius spun around and when he spotted Harry, a mix of emotions were on his face. Harry saw relief, sadness, and….annoyance? Before Harry could think on it, he found himself being pulled into hug by Sirius. He immediately stiffened, and if Sirius noticed it, he simply ignored it and held on tighter.

"I'm so glad you're okay Harry. I was up all night worried about you! I'm so sorry! I should have never asked you to leave! It's just a phase and it'll pass. We just have to work together!" Harry felt his eyes sting, but being held by his godfather felt too good. He wasn't sure why he wasn't shying away. Perhaps it was because nothing like this had ever happened before? Maybe last night was all just the shock of walking in on his godson practically being felt up by another boy. Sure that was it. It was just a big shock. It probably would never happen again.

"C'mon Harry. Go get your stuff and we'll go home, alright? We'll fix this."

"Sirius, I don't think…" Mrs. Weasley was cut off by, to everyone's surprise, Ron.

"No! You can't take him! You hurt him! He had bruises everywhere from what you did to him! You can't just take him!" Harry pulled away from his godfather and gave Ron a look of warning.

"He's my godson and he belongs to me. Excuse me for not wanting him here with the boy who corrupted him in the first place! I saw the way you were all over him!" Sirius was red in the face and his voice was rising. Meanwhile, Ron's ears turned a dark shade of red.

"Now see here! You don't talk to my son that way! He did no such…"

"It's okay, I'll go!" Harry said loudly over everyone. He couldn't stand to hear them all fighting with each other. Especially over him. They all turned and looked at him, Sirius with a huge grin, and the Weasley's with identical frowns.

"Mate…." Ron began but was cut off by Harry again.

"It's fine Ron. I want to go back home. Sirius is right. It's probably best we stop anyways. It's just a phase anyways right?" Ron looked hurt and Harry felt awful, but it had to be done. It was a choice between Ron and having a family of his own. Right now, he wanted his family. If that meant that he and Ron had to take a break and be just friends again, so be it. He didn't even look at Mrs. Weasley. He couldn't bear to see the look of disappointment on her face.

"I'll just go get my stuff then". Once upstairs, he gathered his bag which he had not bothered to unpack last night. As he turned to leave, his path was blocked by a tall red-head. He gulped and slowly lifted his eyes to look into Ron's sad and confused blue ones.

"What are you doing mate? Do you not remember last night? He hurt you and kicked you out! You need to stay here! With me!" He sounded like he was pleading and Harry's heart broke. He couldn't stand hurting Ron, but he had to fix this.

"He's my family Ron. He's the only family I have. I need him. I can't lose him. If that means that we have to stop…..this…..than I think we should take a break…" His voice faltered and he broke eye contact to look down. He saw a hand moving towards his own, and quickly took a step backwards.

"I have to go." With a small glance back, he saw Ron standing in the middle of his room with a blank look on his face. When he got to the landing, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. He couldn't believe what he had just done. Slowly making his way back down to the kitchen, he saw the two adults standing where he left them, and glaring at each other. Once they saw Harry back, they badly hid behind fake smiles.

"That everything?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded and turned to Mrs. Weasley.

"Thanks for last night. I really appreciate it" He gave her a hug but pulled away quickly. He wanted to leave as soon as he could so he could get away from the hurt that was radiating from this house.

"If you need anything you know you are always welcome here dear." She gave him a knowing look and he nodded. He felt Sirius's hand on his shoulder steer him into the floo. A flash of green later and they were off.

He stepped out of the floo with Sirius following right behind him. He felt himself tense a bit. Usually when he would come home from the Weasley's, he would yell for Sirius and they would spend the afternoon catching up and laughing. Somehow, Harry didn't believe that would be happening this time. He startled when Sirius spoke up.

"Why don't you bring your stuff upstairs and I'll fix us something to eat?"

"Sure." Harry was ready for any excuse to be by himself for a moment. He hitched his bag over his shoulder and started upstairs. As he got to his room, he froze for a moment. In the chaos of his mind last night, he hadn't realized how much of a mess he had made. His bed coverings were rumpled, although he knew that it was probably from him and Ron. He shook himself to stop the thoughts of Ron and moved his eyes over to his dresser. Clothes were hanging out of the drawers, some of those drawers were falling out of their slots. There were clothes all over his floor as well. His eyes saw his desk next. The chair was pulled out and the items on his desk were spilled all over the desk and floor.

His eyes didn't want to move away from the scene, but he forced them to. Giving a heavy sigh, he threw his bag onto the floor and he set about straightening up. Once done he sighed and started back downstairs for lunch. Sirius had made a couple of ham sandwiches and crisps for them to eat. They did so in silence, until Harry decided he couldn't take it anymore.

"Sirius I'm sor-" he began but was cut off before he could finsh.

"No Harry, I'm sorry. What I did was inexcusable. While I still can't believe what you did, I shouldn't have reacted like that. It won't happen again, I promise." It all sounded so sincere that Harry couldn't help but feel guilty that he had shocked him like that.

"You shouldn't have had to see that. It shouldn't have even happened. But it's ok because it's over anyways." He ended in a whisper. Saying it out loud made it feel more real.

"Why would you do it though in the first place? Of all the people to experiment with and you picked a boy? Your best friend? It's wrong pup. It's not normal. It can't happen again you understand?" Harry's eyes stayed lowered to the ground but he nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Good. Well now you can focus on birds instead of blokes. What about Hermione? Ginny?" Harry stammered a bit and choked on his pumpkin juice.

"N-no! I- I mean they're great! But….no. They're both like my sisters. I could never…with them…" he trailed off at a small chuckle from Sirius.

"Mate, I'm just joking. But in all seriousness,….is there anyone? At Hogwarts maybe?" He sounded so hopeful, like he was pleading for there to be someone else. He wracked his brains for a name, and the first he could think of was,

"Cho! Chang! Cho Chang! I've like her for years." The answer seemed to please his godfather, who had a wide grin on his face.

"Well then, now you can focus on her. You should owl her. Maybe she could come for dinner one night?" He was chuckling softly to himself and continued to eat his food. Harry gave an attempted small laugh and took a bit of his sandwich.

Ten minutes later and they were finishing cleanup in the kitchen.

"Well how do you want to spend the day? Flying? Go into town?" Harry didn't think he had the energy.

"Actually I'm pretty tired. Didn't sleep well last night you know…" Sirius's face fell so he quickly added, "The cot wasn't very comfortable! That's all!" He hated lying, but he didn't think Sirius would appreciate him having spent the whole night cuddled up in Ron's arms. He felt the back of his throat burn as he thought of lying with Ron. When Sirius gave an understanding look and nodded his approval, he took that as his permission to leave.

He got to his room and was surprised to find Ron's owl, Pig, sitting on the open window sill.

"What have you got there?" He untied the letter from his leg and unrolled the parchment. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized Ron's writing.

Harry,

I hope this will make you happy.

Ron

That was all there was to it. He even went as far as turning it over, but there was nothing else. He could feel what little part of his heart that was still together, break into tiny little pieces. He lay down on his bed, curled up, and crushed the letter in his hands. He felt the burning back in his throat, and didn't try to stop it this time. He felt a couple tears make their way over the bridge of his nose, and shut his eyes.