Chapter 10

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I'm so sorry this has taken so long. Once again, thanks goes to my beta Moony! I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Harry spent some of his afternoon working on his homework. Then he helped Bill start preparations for the dinner tonight with Bill's team. After they had been working in comfortable silence for almost a quarter of an hour Harry broke it to ask quietly "Do you guys do this often?"

Bill looked up from the vegetables he was cutting to look at Harry. He smiled at him as he said fondly "Yeah, we do. We have other friends here as well but we prefer to spend our time together. At work, more often than not, we are rather serious. A lot can go wrong in our jobs and most of the times it goes bad quickly so we have to be focused on what we are doing. We never really know when something is cursed or rigged as a trap. So when we are off we get to relax together. It's something we look forward to. Most of the time it just Jesse and me or the two of us and Nicoli as well; Ben joins us more than Baylee does but as head Curse Breaker he has more paperwork than us to do so most of his evenings are spent working on getting us authorizations we need and compiling the reports we give him every day on what we find that day."

As Bill was speaking Harry would nod every so often to show that, while he was still working on his own preparations, he was still listening. He made quick work of the simple chief salad he was making then turned to his older brother to see if he could help with anything else. He was directed to set the recently enlarged table. After that Bill told him he had the rest covered and he could do whatever he wanted until the others came. Harry wandered into his room and pulled down his guitar. He absentmindedly played familiar songs as he let his mind wander.

Harry looked up as he heard a knock on his door. He paused his playing and bid his visitor to come in. He shrank back as the massive form of Ben came through the door. The blonde offered a smile as he said "Bill asked me to tell you that dinner is done." The older man paused then complemented sincerely "That was some good playing."

Harry ducked his head and looked at the older man through his bangs as he replied softly "Thank you."

He put his guitar back on the wall and followed the older man out to the table. He slipped into his seat beside Bill and offered a quiet greeting to the other men at the table. The others replied pleasantly. As had become habit Bill put food on Harry's plate with a soft instruction to eat it. The meal was eaten with friendly chatter going around the table. The dishes were taken care of with a few flicks of Bill's wand, deciding to give Harry a break since he was still uncomfortable with his friends. They settled into chairs in the living room. Harry eventually laid his head on Bill's shoulder, growing bored with the conversations going on around him. He felt the older man pull him closer before he fell asleep.

The next few days flew by with Harry doing homework in the morning and sightseeing in the afternoon with Bill. Before they knew it, it was time to go back to Grimmauld Place. They arrived in one of the formal sitting rooms.

"Go put your stuff in your room then find Ron and the twins. I'm sure they want to see you," Bill directed with a soft smile.

Harry nodded, turned to leave the room but paused and looked back at Bill uncertainly.

"I'll be here if you need me," Bill soothed quietly.

Harry flashed a smile at his big brother then hulled his duffel bag upstairs, dumped it in his room, then went to find either Ron or Fred and George.

Harry found Fred and George first. They were in the library bent over a book. They looked up as Harry came in and smiled at him.

"Do I want to know what you two are up to in here?" Harry asked as he walked up beside the table they were sitting at.

Fred shut the book with a dull thud before Harry could read what they were looking at.

"How long have you been here?" George asked as he got up to hug his little brother.

Harry returned the hug as he answered "Just got back."

Fred joined the two to hug Harry too.

"Do you guys know where Ron is?" Harry asked from his place squished between the twins.

"Ron, well, Hermione got tired of him ignoring her," Fred started, amusement coloring his tone.

"She cornered him after breakfast and drug him off with her," George continued not sounding as amused as his twin.

Fred sobered up as he finished for the two "He knows how to signal us if he needs rescued. We wouldn't leave him alone with her without having some way to call for backup if he needs it. She has been rather… mean lately."

"So has our little sister," George commented darkly.

Harry looked between the two before asking slightly timidly, "Do you know why? I get the feeling it's because of me."

The twins shared a dark look over Harry's head before they sighed lightly in sync. Harry looked between the two as they had a silent conversation with their eyes and slight head movements. When they finished the twins lead him over to the sofa and settled him between them. Harry looked between the two again before saying "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"No, Little Bit, I don't think you are," Fred said sadly.

"What is her and Ginny's problem?" Harry asked exasperatedly. "I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't want to talk to them. I'm not obligated to talk to them. My Godfather just died. Neither of them have no idea how that feels and they don't seem to have any empathy or sympathy at all!"

"I know," George murmured as he pulled Harry close.

Fred sighed, rubbed his eyes tiredly, then began talking in almost a monotone.

"It started almost a week after school let out. Dumbledore convinced the Grangers that the safest place for Hermione would be here. Ron and Ginny didn't go home at all, they came straight here. Anyway, Ron was worried about you, as were Bill, Charlie and us, so he wasn't spending much time with her. He was busy reading the books he told you about. So, she and Ginny spent a lot of time together. Ginny still has feelings for you, I know, you've never encouraged it. I doubt you were even aware of it. Hermione encouraged those feelings and now Ginny is convinced you want to be with her too. She wrote to another friend of hers and well… I guess a lot of students think you are dating. She's annoyed because now you aren't paying any attention to her."

Harry just looked at Fred with horrified eyes. He tried to speak several times only to have nothing come out. His breathing started to turn harsh as various scenarios ran through his head.

"Hey, hey, hey now," George whispered into the black silky mop his cheek was resting on. "Calm it down. Slow your breathing down. There is nothing to get worked up about. We know you didn't lead her on, we know you aren't interested. This isn't your fault. Now calm down. We aren't mad, Ron isn't mad, Bill and Charlie won't be mad so just calm down. Ginny had a crush, which is our mother's fault for telling her those stories that featured you and made her some sort of princess in them. You rescuing her only cemented that you two were supposedly meant to be together. That is not true. You are free to fall in love with whomever you want to. You have no obligation to her. None, do you hear me Harry James?"

Harry finally got his breathing almost completely under control, the occasional hitch the only sign that something was wrong.

"I never… I'm not interested in Ginny like that. She is your sister… I don't…" Harry trailed off, green eyes showing just how hurt he is.

"We know," Fred said soothingly as he ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of Harry's neck.

Harry let out a shaky sigh as he sagged against George.

"Why would your mother put these ideas in her head?" Harry demanded.

"Because… You know, I don't have any excuses for her," George answered quietly.

George pulled Harry closer, offering what comfort he could.

"How is Ron handling this? The Ginny thing and Hermione's part in it?" Harry inquired after several minutes of George holding him and Fred running his fingers through his hair.

"Ron is mad at them both. He is worried about you. He knows none of this is your fault," Fred responded calmly.

Harry just nodded without saying anything.

After several minutes Harry began to speak softly.

"After that whole Tournament thing… Ron's been really good about controlling his jealousy. I think he's starting to understand that my life isn't as great or as glamorous as he seemed to think it was. He's growing up and realizing what a gift you guys are, what a gift family and security and unconditional love is." Harry paused and his voice lowered to a pained whisper as his luminescent green eyes clouded with tears. "He's starting to realize what he has is something I wished for my whole life. I know I'm getting it now and I love you guys but it's still hard for me to accept because of where I come from. I'm acutely aware of the fact that I'm messed up. My past, both with my… with those people and coming into this world; I'm damaged. I am so messed up and I hate it but I don't know how to fix myself! I don't want to be like this!"

"We know," Fred said soothingly. "We know."

"We are going to help you," George murmured softly. "You aren't alone anymore. We are here for you."

Harry nodded as he burrowed further into George's shoulder. The twins exchanged a look over Harry's head as they continued to hold their baby brother between them.

Harry pulled away from his brothers almost a quarter of an hour later. He looked up at the twins and said softly "I'd like to see Ron but I don't want to see Ginny or Hermione."

Fred gently detangled himself, stood and exclaimed brightly "I'm on it" and hurried out of the room. Harry turned a perplexed look on George who replied with a quick "I don't know. Don't look at me."

The two young men sat there in comfortable silence until the door opened to reveal Fred and Ron. Harry watched as a grin crossed Ron's face when he caught sight of him. He ran over and pulled Harry into a gentle hug.

"It's so good to see you again, Harry," Ron breathed into the dark hair. "I've missed you."

Harry smiled into the older boy's neck as he answered "I've missed you too. I love spending time with Bill but I did miss you guys."

They spent the next several hours talking until Bill came in and told Harry to head down to the kitchen for dinner. He needed to talk to the twins, Ron and Charlie. Harry looked up at Bill in confusion.

"Is everything okay?" He asked tentatively.

Bill offered his baby brother a comforting smile as he replied "Everything is fine. I just want to catch up with them. If you really want to you can come with us. It's been a while since breakfast, and since you didn't eat lunch, I thought you would like a small snack. Dinner is still a few hours off."

Harry thought about it and realized with a start that he was hungry. He looked up at his guardian with surprised green eyes.

"I'm actually hungry," Harry whispered, shocked.

"That is great Harry, that's really great," Bill said with a proud smile.

The rest of his brothers were smiling at him too. Harry stood to move toward the door but he was stopped three different times by Ron, Charlie and Bill giving him hugs.

"We will meet you in the kitchen in a little while. If something happens come right back here, got it Harry?" Bill directed gently.

Harry nodded as he said "Yeah. I understand."

"Okay, get yourself a snack. Something healthy preferably but if you want something sweet you may have that," Bill said gently.

Harry nodded then trotted out of the room. He was uncomfortable without any of his brothers but he firmly reminded himself that the house is his, that there is no reason to feel like he doesn't belong here. It had belonged to his Godfather and now it was his. He had every right to be here. Harry kept up his pep talk in his head as he walked down into the kitchen.

Harry peaked around the door to see the kitchen blessedly empty. Harry went over to the cold cupboard and found an apple, orange, pear, blueberries and strawberries. He pulled out a container of cream and found icing sugar, a bowl and whisk. Harry made quick work of cleaning and cutting up the fruit. He poured a little cream into the bowl and a tiny amount of icing sugar and began to whisk. A few minutes later he had a beautiful whip cream that he put on top of his fruit. He quickly cleaned up his mess then carried his bowl over to the table and settled into eat his snack.

Harry was finishing his fruit when the door opened and Hermione and Ginny walked in. Harry lowered his spoon back into the bowl. The girls stopped talking as they noticed him for the first time.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked as she ran over to him and captured him in a hug.

Harry didn't return the hug, staying stiff in her arms. She moved only to be replaced by Ginny, who then tried to kiss him. Harry turned his head away, causing her to kiss his cheek instead.

"Harry?" She asked softly, hurt coloring her tone.

Harry narrowed green eyes at the girl.

"Why did you try to kiss me? Why did you think that would be okay?" Harry demanded coolly.

Ginny looked hurt and confused. Harry felt slightly bad but he pushed that away. There was no way he could allow her to believe that he was okay with that. He didn't want his inaction to encourage her.

"But, but we are together. We're meant to be together. We're soul mates," Ginny explained in a shaky voice.

Harry took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. He didn't want to snap at the girl since he understood this wasn't just her fault but he was getting sick of it.

"Ginny," Harry said firmly. "We are not a couple. We never will be. I do not love you. You are a friend. But that is all you are and all you will be."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears as she stared at Harry in disbelief. A shaking hand came up to cover her mouth as she let out a sob before she turned and left the room at a run.

"How could you do that?" Hermione screamed at Harry. "You hurt her so badly!"

Harry looked at Hermione through narrowed eyes. He took a deep breath before replying in a cold voice "I wasn't the one who put that idea in her head. I've never encouraged her. Hell, I didn't even know she felt like that about me until today! What would you have me do? Lead her on?"

Hermione just sniffed disapprovingly at him before turning and hurrying after the other girl.

Harry let out a loud sigh as propped his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. He ignored the tears that stung his eyes, refusing to let them fall. He rubbed his face vigorously before he started to push himself to his feet only to stop as the door slammed open. Mrs. Weasley stormed into the room, Mr. Weasley, who had his arm wrapped around his daughter, and Hermione following behind her.

"How could you do this to Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley yelled at Harry. "The girl is in love with you and you won't even give her a chance! What's wrong with you?"

Harry sat there, at the table, surrounded by Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny, stunned. He couldn't answer as he sat there wide eyed. Ginny was sobbing softly, being comforted by both her Father and Hermione.

"Answer me, young man!" Mrs. Weasley demanded loudly as she stalked toward him.

Harry started trembling slightly as memories of his uncle replaced Mrs. Weasley. He had learned the hard way that yelling was never good. That it always meant pain for him. His eyes went hard and blank as he forced the fear into the tiny box at the back of his mind. Mrs. Weasley reached out, grabbed his shoulders and shook him. Harry didn't do anything to fight back; he knew that would make it worse. He started when a shout rang around the room.

"Mother!" Bill roared as he stalked through the door followed quickly by his enraged younger brothers. "What the bloody Hell do you think you are doing? Release him at once!"

Everyone in the room froze as the five enraged redheads spread out along the side of the table Harry was on.

"Did you not hear me?" Bill demanded in a soft, menacing tone. "I said let him go. Now, or I will make you."

Mrs. Weasley started a bit as she snapped out of it. She turned angry eyes onto her oldest son.

"How dare you speak to me like that! I am your mother, you will show me respect!" She snapped, still gripping Harry's shoulders.

"I will speak to you however I want when you are manhandling my charge. Now, for the last time. Let him go." Bill bit out between clenched teeth.

Mrs. Weasley finally released her punishing grip on Harry's shoulders. Charlie, who was the closest to Harry, standing beside Bill, reached out and gently grasped Harry's forearm to pull him next to himself. Harry flinched when Charlie touched him but allowed himself to be towed from the bench to Charlie's side. Charlie draped a gentle arm over the boy's shoulders and Harry burrowed into his side, remembering that Charlie was safe, Charlie wouldn't hurt him. He turned wide green eyes to the growing fight between Bill and his Mum.

"Don't you ever touch him again. Do you hear me? Never again!" Bill spat at the angry woman.

"I am your Mother, how dare you talk to me like that?" She raged, red faced at her oldest son. "That boy broke you little sister's heart! How can you stand there and defend him, protect him, when he has hurt her so badly?"

Bill took a deep steadying breath before he continued in a forced calm voice that fooled not one in the room.

"I defend him because it isn't his fault. I would defend him even if it was, because he is my ward, and I love the boy. He does not deserve this treatment from anyone, especially someone he should be able to trust. I can guarantee he will never trust you again, and I will never trust you with him again. As for Ginny, I do love her, she is my sister, but this is your fault. You with all those stories about her meeting him, Harry saving her, her being some sort of princess to Harry's prince. She feels like she is entitled to him because of them and because he saved her. You and Dad owe him a Life Debt as does she! What you and her can't seem to comprehend is that he owes her nothing! Not love, not friendship, not protection! Nothing! Now, if you ever lay your hands on him again…" For the first time Bill faltered, pain clear in his blue eyes before he visibly steeled himself and continued coldly. "If you ever lay your hands on him again, I will call the Aurors and have you arrested. In fact unless I or Charlie are with him you don't even speak to him. I will let you know if that changes."

Bill turned to look at Harry and the boy flinched from the cold look in the blue eyes. Bill softened his gaze as he said softly "Come on Kiddo. Guys, let's go upstairs."

The five redheads watched in dismay when Harry flinched from Bill's touch. Bill was careful to keep the comforting smile on his face as he reached for him again, very slowly this time, and was rewarded with a smaller flinch but Harry moving toward him. The older man gently guided Harry up the stairs and into his bedroom, the other four brothers following their oldest and youngest. Ron was the last one in the room so he shut the door and turned the lock. Charlie shot a ward at the door that would alarm if someone got within two feet of the door. He then shot a silencing spell at the door.

The oldest redhead turned to the youngest in the room. Harry took a step back into Fred when Bill turned to him. He clenched his jaw, closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose.

"I'm sorry," Harry said quietly. "I know you won't hurt me."

Bill reached out slowly, making sure Harry had enough time to see his hand coming, and gently stroked his cheek with the back of his fingers.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Bill said softly. "She had no right to touch you. No one has that right. Not me, not Charlie, not Fred, not George, not Ron, not anyone. I am so sorry she grabbed you like that."

Harry hesitated as he thought about what Bill had just said. It was a new concept to him. The Dursleys had considered him property, the Wizarding world considered him public property, and they thought it was their right to know everything about him. Harry looked up at the older man and nodded.

"I get it, but I'm not sure if I believe it. I've been hurt too many times, beaten down too many times…" He let out a long, tired sigh. "I just can't."

Harry turned away from Bill, only to be staring at Fred and Ron. He shook his head then bowed his head, shoulders slumping. He ignored the pain coming from his shoulders. He reached up, behind his glasses, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was so tired both physically and emotionally. Harry took a deep breath before admitting "I'm tired. I'm so tired of all of this crap. I just want to be left alone. Why is that so hard? Why can't people just leave me the bloody hell alone?"

Bill let out a tired sigh of his own before reaching out to cup the back of Harry's neck then pulled the boy in close to him, resting the dark head on his shoulder. Harry snuggled into the strong shoulder beneath his head.

"Come on," Bill whispered into his ear. "I'm going to get the others to clear out for a while and we'll get you into bed for a nap. How's that sound?"

Harry just nodded, only vaguely aware of what was going on around him. He went where he was guided, trusting Bill more than he thought he was able to trust anyone anymore. Bill helped him pull off his shirt and Bill sucked in a deep, sharp breath. Harry forced himself to focus after that, not quite sure what had surprised Bill so much. His older brother's gaze was flitting between both his shoulders. For the first time he noticed that they were sore. He looked over to the right to his right shoulder to see a darkening bruise. He checked the other shoulder to see the same thing. Harry turned shocked eyes onto his big brother. Bill gently ran his hand through the mop of ebony hair as he summoned some bruise cream. He caught the small bottle with the same hand that held his wand. He gently applied the cream to each shoulder, and then eased him down onto the bed and pillows. Harry smiled faintly as Bill pulled the blanket up over him. Harry closed his eyes as his big brother ran a long fingered hand through his hair. He felt his eyes closing and allowed himself to drift. The room was quiet for a while until he heard Charlie's voice talking to Bill. Bill asked Charlie to stay with him while he went to have some words with their mother.

Harry drifted in and out of sleep as he listened to Charlie mumble to himself about overbearing mothers, immature sisters who can't tell fairytales from reality and feeble fathers who cannot stand up for a child who is being hurt. He must have dozed for a bit because the next thing he heard was Bill telling Charlie that their mother was rather indifferent to the fact that she left bruises on a child. Charlie let out a low growl from the back of his throat.

"How can she not care?" The bigger man spat out.

"I don't know. Mum… I think she is upset because she wanted Ginny's life to go a certain way and now it's not going to. She is being irrational. You know what she is like when things don't go her way. She doesn't like seeing Ginny upset, but really she has no one to blame for that but herself. Ginny does bare some of the blame, she is old enough to understand that someone might not return her feelings. She needs to deal with that and move on. I'm sorry she is upset but now, now Harry is my first priority," Bill said wearily.

There was a pause before Charlie said slowly "You know what you were getting into when you accepted, fought, for guardianship of him. You don't regret that do you?"

"No!" Bill said vehemently. "Not at all. He is worth it all. I just am sorry that it's causing a rift in our family. I'm pretty sure it would have happened anyway. Even if I wouldn't have taken Harry in he still wouldn't have wanted to be with Ginny. My taking him in didn't change that. I would have still sided with Harry. Wouldn't you?"

"Yes," Charlie said firmly. "He deserves to be with someone he wants to. They both deserve to be with someone who loves them. Not some relationship that is based on infatuation and apathy. That's what it would be. Neither deserves that."

"No," Bill said softly. "They don't."

Harry tried to focus more on what they were saying, he knew it was wrong but he wanted to hear it, but he found himself drifting off. Harry came awake slowly. The room was quiet. He could hear the scratch of a quill on parchment and soft breathing but nothing else. He made a soft sound as he tried to move and pain lanced across his shoulders. The scratching stopped and footsteps crossed the room. A warm hand settled on his forehead, brushing his hair back off his face.

"Shh, baby brother," Bill murmured gently. "It's okay. I'm here. You're okay."

Harry felt himself settling back into the bed, the soothing motion sending him back to sleep.

Author's Notes: Hey y'all! I'm sorry it has been so long. Life and writer's block kind of got away from me. I intend to have this story, as well as Flight, if you happen to read that one too, done by the end of the year. I don't really know where I am taking this. I believe this will only span the length of summer. Thank you for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! For those of you who celebrate, Happy Easter! Until next time be happy, be healthy, be safe,

Lynn