Author's Note: Wow, sorry for posting this a day later than I anticipated! I had two ballet auditions and was missing my computer. Good news is, it's updated now!
As normal, I own nothing, etc.
Warnings: minor cursing, implied violence.
Breakfast Affairs
August 2, 1998
"In the days after the fall of the Ministry, the Order of the Phoenix (see Chapter Four for details) began to discuss making their own renegade Ministry. This took quite some time, as the French Ministry of Magic proved difficult in regards to funding and acceptance. This did not deter the rebels; they were determined to make their own path in the world." - Jennifer Travers, "Magic Through the Ages"
Harry woke up a few minutes after Ron and Hermione left, confusion clawing at his every muscle. There was, at first, the initial type of soreness that generally comes with sharing a bed with people. Almost immediately it gave way to pressure in his skull. He was thankful that it wasn't resonating from his scar, but it was still a pain that he was going to have to deal with.
Because of the pain, his movements were slow and delicate. He crept across the room to find some clothes, filching through the stack Hermione had left him. It took an unreasonable amount of time for him to even walk into the bathroom, toothbrush in hand.
It took him fifteen more minutes to finish his morning routine. As soon as he finished, Harry pulled himself out of the room, green eyes crusted with sleep. The scent of bacon and eggs wafted down the hall, and his stomach dictated every step.
Down the stairs and to the right was where it took him, the sound of chattering people almost deafening. More surprising, though, was that the noise came from a handful of people.
Mrs. Weasley and Fleur were pouring over the stove, whipping out breakfast as quick as they could. Hermione, Luna, and Ginny crowded around the table, chatting happily. Meanwhile, Ron shoveled eggs into his mouth at a dangerous speed. Fred and George were loitering in the corner, goofy grins on their faces, and were first to notice Harry.
"Morning, Harry!" Fred called, waving a rubber chicken in his direction. Everyone's heads swiveled towards him, and he smiled at them.
Mrs. Weasley shot her son a look as she lifted her spatula to Harry. "Good morning, dear. Feeling better?"
"Yes, much," he lied, slipping into the seat between Ron and Luna. He stole a piece of toast from Ron's plate, slathering it in butter. The other boy made a noise of objection, but as his mouth was full of bacon, it was hard to understand.
"That ees good," Fleur remarked. She whipped her wand and another plate of food came floating towards their table. "Make sure you eat, eat, eat!"
Harry smiled towards her turned back, helping himself to a huge scooping of eggs and potatoes. The entire thing looked wonderful, and he couldn't help but think of Hogwarts. It was sad to think he may not see it again for a long time. The misery only lasted a few minutes; Fleur's good mood was seeping into everyone.
"Did you sleep well?" Luna asked him. Harry almost spoke with his mouth full of eggs, but Hermione arched a brow.
He nodded towards her, swallowing before speaking. Best not to break the good mood by being rude. With a smile, he said, "As much as one can with Ron's feet in their face."
"My feet don't smell that bad!" Ron objected. "They smell fine, right?"
"I couldn't tell," Hermione quipped. "I held my breath all night."
The table burst into laughter, with Ron tossing a potato towards her, and Ginny catching it. Mrs. Weasley shook her head at the proceedings. Then, deciding that she had created enough food for the moment, she moved to sit at the large table.
"We've a meeting today, you lot," Mrs. Weasley remarked. She took a few pieces of toast, spreading marmalade on both. "No, not you, Ginny."
Ginny had looked ecstatic at the inclusion, but her face fell when her mother spoke. With a large frown, she stood up suddenly, the chair swinging out behind her. "Fine!"
With that, Mrs. Weasley leaned forward in her chair, only a bit disturbed. It seemed that she understood the feelings brewing in her children. "Ginny," she said in a warning tone.
The girl whipped around on her heel, showing her back to the rest of her family. Although he couldn't tell, Harry knew that there was a murderous look on her face. Fred and George confirmed his thoughts, paling when she glanced in their direction.
She stomped out a moment later, and Luna followed her with an unreadable look on her face. Harry turned back to his toast, relishing in the weird silence that fell over them all. At least he didn't have to talk. He could enjoy his potatoes in peace.
George attempted to break the hush, dropping himself into one of the vacant chairs. "So, a meeting later?"
The attempt at casual conversation brought a grin to everyone's face. Harry even leaned forward in interest. He wondered if Mrs. Weasley was going to offer up any more information seeing as Luna and Ginny had left the room.
She didn't, plugging away at the toast before standing up without another word. Shaking her head at the group, she exited the room, toast in hand.
They all stared at each other for a few moments before anyone dared to speak. It was almost like they were holding their breath, wondering if she would return to shout at them all. They knew they were being insufferable. If anything they deserved worse.
"I feel rotten," Hermione mumbled, pushing away her plate of crumbs.
Furrowing his brows, Ron shifted in his seat. "You didn't do anything, though. Ginny was being a brat."
Harry let out a breath, turning to face Fred, who had dropped into the other vacant seat. "Is she mad at anything in particular? Or everything?"
"Everything," Fred explained, scooping up a mug of tea that was not his. He sniffed it, then, deciding that it couldn't be that terrible, took a sip. "Earlier, she cursed at me for stepping out in front of her."
George snorted. "You did it on purpose, and you know it. That was rightful."
Chuckling, Ron scooted up from his seat, moving to grab himself a mug from the counter. Fleur passed him the kettle between cracking another egg. He poured himself a cup, dropping a tea bag inside. "Did you also threaten her food supply?"
"Debatable."
"So you're the one who started the tirade?" asked Hermione, laughing. "She was vicious when she walked in here."
As the rest of the family continued to tease the absent Ginny, Harry found himself distracted. His chair squeaked as he retraced Ron's previous steps, poking around the cabinets for a mug.
Once he located one, Harry took the kettle back from Fleur. The witch rolled her eyes as she placed the appliance back, but the action was positive. Grinning at her, he dropped two bags into the mug, moving them around. He found himself thinking about Ginny's reaction as he prepared his tea.
It was reasonable. He too remembered how he felt in his fifth year, when the Order had been reinstalled. Even worse, he had been privy to information at a younger age. It wasn't fair, that much he knew. Harry doubted that Mrs. Weasley was going to allow her any information, though. She hadn't wanted Harry to know, and Ron and Hermione were only allowed because he would have told them.
Especially now that she was acting out. If anything, Mrs. Weasley must think that she wasn't mature enough. But Harry knew her frustrations were relevant. They had put so much effort into the world, and it had shut them out.
It was terrible. He almost agreed with her method, but he knew that it wasn't going to work. He had already been through all that anger before, and he knew that it didn't help nor beget change. If anything, it made things much worse.
He knew that there was a way to fix it, but it wasn't going to work out the way they wanted it to. He, at some point, was going to go on a hunt for the Horcruxes. And, at some point, he was going to face Voldemort. The circumstances were still the same. They were going to have to officially break it off.
And he was going to have to see her, now. They weren't getting a 'cooling off' period like he and Cho had gotten, or like Ginny must have gotten with Michael Corner and Dean.
His heart dropped as he remembered Dean, as well as the vivid vision that he had had of Voldemort. Although he hadn't yet told Hermione and Ron, he knew that he had to. They couldn't be left in the dark…
"Harry? Are you paying any attention?"
Whipping his head up, Harry winced. He hadn't realized that Ron had asked him a question, and he smiled apologetically at him, taking a sip of his tea. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I asked if you were going to ever tell us about your vision," Ron repeated, and Harry startled, looking around the room.
It seemed that he had somehow missed the exit of the twins and Fleur while he was deep in thought. Right now, only Ron and Hermione remained.
Harry moved to sit down again, cradling the heavy mug in his hand. "Oh. Right. Sorry."
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked. She studied him, her chin propped up by her hand. As soon as he touched the seat, she leaned forward in her own chair.
He wasn't sure how to answer the question. For one, his head was still killing him, and he felt cottony. At least he wasn't being tormented by the pain of Voldemort, so that was a positive. "It's debatable," he chose to say instead.
"I'm not sure how debatable it could be, mate."
Harry let a puff of air pass through his nose in a semblance of a bitter laugh. "I feel like death," he admitted, refusing to meet either of their eyes. "But I feel better than I did yesterday."
"Can we talk about it?" Ron asked. He took a sip of his tea.
There was a moment where he resisted the urge to shrug his shoulders, but the feeling ultimately won out. "Yeah, I guess. There's not that much to say."
"You were in the bathroom for about an hour," Hermione said, her eyes wide. "That's not nothing."
"Really?" he asked, not having realized the exact time period of it all. It didn't feel like that long. In fact, it felt short in comparison to others that he had had. It was possible that he forgot something about it. There could be more that he had blocked out.
"That's a bit of an extension." Ron glared at Hermione, and she ducked her head in embarrassment.
"It wasn't anything that different from normal. One minute, I was fine. The next, I was overcome with this feeling of euphoria, like he realized that he had won. He must know that we can't get back- it must have been part of his plan. They're doing border patrols, too."
Ron blinked, once, twice, then managed, "Really?"
"And they caught a few Muggleborns trying to escape. He wants to try to… convert a few, I think. That's not the right word for it, of course. Even Malfoy looked a bit shocked at that."
"Malfoy was there?" Ron questioned. "Really? I suppose he's a full-fledged Death Eater now, then."
Harry shrugged, a motion that was becoming all too familiar. "I'm sure he was already. Killing Dumbledore was probably the final hazing ceremony to becoming a Death Eater. Or a dumbass. Could go either way, of course."
"Was he going to torture them?" Hermione asked.
"It seems like it. He said that he had two people that we knew, and he was trying to see if they'd change their minds about me. And that Fenrir killed the others. Who… Who do you think they meant?"
"I dunno. I don't even want to know." Ron looked down into his mug, as if the dark liquid could give him any answers. "Those are our peers. Our friends, even."
They were all silent for a few minutes, thinking and wondering. Harry went through the list of Gryffindors that he knew, taking another sip of his tea. He didn't think that they meant Dean- he would have been travelling with Lavender and Seamus, if they were even moving.
He didn't want it to be Dean, either. So it wasn't him. It couldn't have been- Lavender and Seamus would make sure that he stayed safe. Who else could it be?
"It's Colin and Dennis," Hermione said suddenly, her voice cracking with emotion. "That's who it is. It has to be them! There are two of them, they were probably trying to get away. I'm not sure how they found out, though. Somebody must have tipped them off, and they had planned an escape."
His heart dropped, the mug slipping out of his hand. It didn't have very far to fall, and dropped onto the table with only a clatter. "Shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit."
"Are you sure?" Ron questioned, his eyes wide. He took a few moments to review the thought, mulling it all over. "Are you really sure?"
They were quiet for a few seconds, thinking it over. They were going to have to tell the Order about this. It was a terrifying thing that they had little-to-no information about.
Harry almost found himself wishing to have another vision. That way, he would be able to figure out exactly what was going on.
Hermione must have known what he was thinking. Her brows were furrowed as she whipped her head towards him. "No. Harry, no!"
"What?" he exclaimed, feigning innocence. "What?"
"I know exactly what you're thinking," she insisted, and Ron nodded along. Both of their skeptical gazes tracked him, and he felt guilty as he avoided their eyes.
"Do you?"
"You can't save them by keeping your mind open. Don't let Voldemort know what's going on in your thoughts, please! Colin wouldn't want that. In fact, he'd hate you for it. He'd resent you. That's not what you want them to be thinking about."
"So you're saying I should take up Occlumency again?" Harry asked.
She nodded at him, leaning back triumphantly in her chair. "Yes, I am. It would be extremely beneficial now that we're getting told confidential information. Plus, Ron and I were talking about it- "
"Oh, really?" His eyes flashed towards the two of them angrily. They were so cozy next to one another, looking concerned about his well-being. Although Luna's words rang in his thoughts, he was still filled with rage at the idea that they thought they knew what was best for him.
"Don't pull that with me, Harry," Hermione hissed. "You know what I meant. You need to stop being like this! We try to help, and you get all worked up over nothing!"
"I get worked up over nothing? You two constantly think you know better than me, that you know what I should be doing, that you know what I need, that…"
He trailed off, looking down at the table. Heat still pushed at his gaze, and he dropped his head into his hands, groaning. "Sorry, I'm sorry."
Hermione grunted. Ron shifted in his seat, looking awkward. He seemed like he wanted to say something to his best friend, but was unable to. Harry completely understood.
They all stared at each other for a few minutes. Then, Ron decided to cut through the air with his words, crinkling his nose.
"Is the rest of our year going to be like the past few days?"
Harry let out a bitter laugh, still staring at the table. As he slowly returned to a better sitting position, the laugh fell into the air. "I hope not."
Luna waltzed into the kitchen as soon as his words hit the air. Ginny followed behind, her eyes a storm. "What do you not hope?" the blonde witch questioned.
"We're hoping the world doesn't end," Ron explained, taking a sip from his mug.
Ginny slid into the seat across from her brother, dropping her head onto the table. "Hear, hear," she muttered to the wood.
"Did Mum give you what for?"
She shook her head to the best of her ability, refusing to remove her head from resting on the table. "She mentioned that she was disappointed in how I was handling things, and how I had to keep up hope. Which was much, much worse."
"Oh, I agree," Ron remarked, finally shoving down his tea. "Did she waggle her finger at you?"
Ginny lifted her head a fraction of an inch before dropping it back onto the table. It made a loud whack, causing everyone to look in her direction. "Nope," she said, emphasizing the solitary word to a dramatic degree.
They all winced sympathetically, completely understanding the anguish and embarrassment of being told by Mrs. Weasley that you were disappointing her. It was easier for her to yell and shout, or even be sweet to exhaustion. Harry almost found himself wishing for the bitter way that she had been acting a few weeks before.
"I feel like they're babying us," Ginny hissed. Luna patted at her back, adding her own opinion.
"I think they're doing it on purpose. They've been through this before, remember?"
Harry was struck with the realization after it had been said, his lips pulling into a deep frown. Luna was right. They had been through this before, all the adults. They had already fought through one of the wars, and now they were fighting again. The only reprieve that the Weasley family had gotten was a few years when their children were at school. Even then, they knew Harry, and he got into a lot of trouble.
He felt terrible. He felt like it was his fault.
"Yeah," Harry said absently, the guilt still pressing at his throat.
As he said this, Ginny looked up from the table, smirking. "That was beautifully sentimental, Harry," she said sarcastically.
"Thanks," he said, lifting his mug in the air.
Luna rolled her eyes at both of them, a movement that looked awkward and strange on her pale, round face. She was almost too sweet for it, but when she finished the movement, the look that she adopted was as dreamy as normal.
"You two have been extremely off the past few days. I think it has something to do with Mars."
Hermione resisted the urge to snort, forever bothered by the topic of Divination. But her instincts ultimately won out, and she was unable to mock Luna for simply being herself. Instead, she simply sat up from her chair, aiming to move out of the room.
"I'm not sure what it has to do with Mars, Luna," she said as she shoved her chair back under the table. "It has to do with both of them being impossible."
Ginny stuck her tongue out at Hermione's retreating back, then ran a hand through her hair. "You're being impossible," she muttered.
She and Harry looked at each other, then managed to dissolve into laughter. Neither Ron nor Luna were entirely certain about the how or why, and thus decided to do the logical thing. Both left the kitchen, exchanging nervous looks as they did so. They were followed out by the uproarious laughter of the strange duo.
