Harry spent the next week at Privet Drive waiting to leave. Dudley was great, and it was nice that Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hate him anymore, but that was nothing compared to people who actually genuinely wanted Harry. And he would get to spend the whole rest of the summer there. He'd already written to all his friends, telling them the good news. Dudley didn't object only because Harry promised he'd find a way to get Dudley to the Quidditch World Cup without provoking Uncle Vernon's concerns about Sirius.

He even wrote Luna, telling her that he was sorry but Sirius had denied any connection with Stubby Boardman. He had seemed positively delighted by the idea, though, and Harry was happy he asked. He'd only spent a day at Sirius' house, but it was obvious that Lupin was right about Sirius' 'emotional state'. For all that he was thrilled to meet Harry, he would sometimes fall into silences that were hard to snap him out of, and Lupin's methods had a questionable success rate.

It turned out Dudley was actually staying at Privet Drive for Aunt Marge's visit, and Harry wished him luck. Perhaps the sting of Aunt Petunia's leaving was more dull now, or at least Aunt Marge would have stopped talking about it, and Dudley could have an okay visit with his aunt. Harry was just glad he didn't have to be there.

The day of his return to Sirius and Lupin's house arrived, and Harry boarded the Knight Bus with Lupin, excited and grateful that Lupin had given in easily on the subject of the flying car. The Knight Bus was faster, anyway.

Living with Sirius and Professor Lupin was interesting, to say the least. Lupin told Harry at least twice a day to stop calling him Professor, but Harry couldn't help it. He'd just spent a year being taught by the man and being chastised about not calling him Professor. It was going to take time.

Unexpectedly, the fact that Harry was a Slytherin didn't come up very often. Harry rather thought that Sirius and Lupin were trying to forget about that aspect of Harry. When Sirius asked what colour carpet Harry wanted in his bedroom, he said green, just to see what Sirius would do.

Sirius had paused, glanced at Harry, and seemed to bolster himself with a brisk nod. Harry's carpet was Slytherin green.

Aside from Harry's minor carpet colour rebellion, he tried to be a very agreeable houseguest, mostly because when Harry was being cheerful, Sirius was less likely to fall into one of his silences. According to Lupin, that was the point of this summer. Enough so that Lupin discouraged Harry from asking about his parents, before they even got off the Knight Bus.

"It's not that you can't ask about them," he said, having seen Harry's disgruntlement. "I'd just prefer to be certain he can handle thinking about them first. He's been avoiding the thought of your parents so far, maybe because it's just been the two of us and the memories are more painful than anything else."

Harry didn't like the story embargo one bit. But he understood that this summer was about Sirius, so he kept his mouth shut. Fortunately it wasn't a problem for long; Sirius was already talking about Harry's parents during the in-depth tour of the house.

"And you've seen the dining room," Sirius said, stepping into a section of the house with wood flooring, covered with plush rugs and a dining table. They crossed that section and moved on to the red carpeted area where they'd spent a large amount of time on Harry's last visit. "And the sitting room." There were several comfortable red couches and small cherry tables scattered about the area, and a few of them poked their corners haphazardly onto the nearby kitchen tiles. On the other side, a Gryffindor themed tapestry hung from the back of a bookshelf in the library (more wood flooring). Harry remembered being mildly startled by all the red on his last visit.

"James would have liked this room," Sirius said. "He always did like red."

Harry glanced at Lupin, who was watching Sirius intently. Sirius looked around the room for a moment, his expression blank, and Lupin's features began to take on a hint of worry. Then Sirius looked down at Harry, smiled, and continued as though the pause had never existed. "I think that's one reason he liked your mother so much at first. Her hair. They had such a row when she wanted to cut it short, and they weren't even dating at the time. She was furious, as you might expect, that he thought he could tell her what to do, and he just hated the thought that all her hair might disappear. He went on about it. You'd think she was planning to shave her head."

Harry was almost afraid to respond, as if that might break the spell and force Sirius' face back into a blank mask. "Did she do it?" he asked after a moment. Sirius laughed, short and unfamiliar, and Lupin's face split into a surprised smile.

"Of course she did it," Sirius said. "Your mother was nothing if not stubborn. James sulked for weeks."

After that, Lupin sometimes even instigated stories for Harry.

Harry usually slept fairly well at Sirius and Lupin's house. He only became aware that he was the only one when they forgot the silencing charms one night, and Harry was jolted awake at three in the morning to the sounds of Sirius' moaning and shouting. He lay in bed, staring wide eyed at the ceiling as Sirius began chanting 'No, no no,' and the sound of glass breaking rang out.

There were walls on the second floor, though they were paper thin. Harry had discovered early on that he could make his room bigger by shoving at them and encroaching on Remus or the hallway. Tonight, he could tell exactly when Remus jumped out of bed, because he leaned against their shared wall, and Harry watched it slide toward him, bowed in the center.

Remus lived between Harry and Sirius, which, according to Sirius, had been a brilliant move on Harry's part. The two of them had conspired to shrink Remus' room to the size of a matchbox more than once. Remus had retaliated by placing heavy wardrobes along those walls, and Harry could still remember clearly the look on his face when Harry and Sirius had pushed Sirius' wall hard enough to break past it, so that the wardrobe ended up in Sirius' room with a patch of wall behind it, and repairs were needed. Harry huddled under his blankets and hoped Remus wasn't about to fall through, though fortunately the indent in the wall disappeared a moment later, and a door slammed.

Harry had originally thought that movable walls was a great idea. Now, though, he didn't like the design at all. He could hear the soothing words Lupin spoke as he woke Sirius. He could hear everything, and that was when he realised they were acting out a nightly ritual, that this sort of thing was commonplace. Harry felt like an intruder, and tried to block out the sound of their voices and go back to sleep while wishing the walls were thicker. It took a long time, and as he lay curled on his side with his back to Remus' wall, listening to their voices and trying not to, all he could do was imagine what it must be like to wake up screaming on a nightly basis.

"Sirius, I've been thinking," Lupin said one day over breakfast. Sirius continued eating with an encouraging nod. "Harry should know how to perform the Patronus Charm."

Harry looked up from his toast, curious. He vaguely remembered Draco's mentioning the Patronus as a way to repel dementors, and recalled asking Lupin about it once. But the dementors were gone. Harry kept his mouth shut and watched Lupin watch Sirius.

Sirius had looked up from his breakfast now as well, a wry sort of smile on his face. "Do you think so?"

Lupin nodded seriously. "The wards on the house should keep the Ministry from noticing, not that they'd bother you again anyway."

They had a short staring contest, which gave Harry time to wrack his brains for what he knew about the Patronus. It required a happy memory to summon and...oh.

Sirius sighed and nodded. "Fine. I suppose I'll be demonstrating?"

Lupin beamed at him. "Repeatedly."

Harry went walking that day, while Lupin and Sirius worked out the details involved in teaching Harry the charm.

The Weasleys did live nearby. Harry wandered out of the fields and discovered the sister in a tree. She nearly fell out when she saw him.

"Oh, hello," she said, blushing furiously. "I – Ron said you were staying nearby, I didn't realise you were so close."

Harry nodded. "We're over in a field somewhere that way," he said, pointing. He hadn't gone exploring before this, and was only somewhat optimistic about his ability to find the sapling again.

"Oh, right," she said, nodding back. Harry waited for her to say more. She didn't. He considered asking if she knew Luna. The awkward pause that had developed reminded him of her. Luna was very good at awkward pauses, though she never seemed to notice the awkward aspect of things. Unlike Luna, the Weasley sister did notice, and blushed further.

"Er, want to pl – do something?" she asked, watching him hopefully. Harry shrugged and looked around the copse of trees.

"Sure. How far away is your house, anyway?"

She pointed to the east. "It's not far that way. I can see it from here, even."

Harry turned to look, but his view was clearly much more obstructed than hers. He glanced around and swung himself up into a nearby tree, and looked where she had been pointing.

"That's an interesting house," he said after a moment. She stared at him, and he grinned. "I've never seen anything quite like it."

She blushed.

It turned out that Harry didn't need to find the sapling again. Ron eventually found them after they abandoned the trees and started walking back to the Weasley's house. Harry found the conversation incredibly scarce, and eventually just asked about Luna.

She did know Luna, it turned out, and what's more, Luna lived nearby, and they had played together when they were younger. Harry was intrigued.

Ron came barrelling toward them as they neared the house.

"Harry, what're you doing here?" he asked, eyeing his sister and Harry suspiciously. She blushed again.

"I was exploring and I found your sister," Harry said, shrugging. Harry still wasn't entirely sure of her name, though he remembered her being among the Weasleys he'd gone to Diagon Alley with before third year. He remembered knowing it then, and it was on the tip of his tongue now. It was far too late to ask, though, having missed the opportunity in the trees.

"Mum's looking for you, Ginny," Ron said, still watching Harry.

Ginny! Ginny was her name. Harry filed this information away for later use and waved goodbye as she started off down the path again. "Bye, Ginny," he called, and he could see her ears turning red as she walked away.

Ron narrowed his eyes.

"What's with you and my sister?" he asked. Harry blinked at him, surprised.

"I told you, I found her in a tree. She said you were down here so I thought I'd come say hi."

Ron's suspicious glare didn't cease, and Harry suddenly realized what was wrong. He laughed a little.

"I have no interest in your sister, Ron, Merlin," he said, raising his hands in a peacemaking gesture. "I didn't even know her name until you said it just now."

Ron's glare died a little bit. "How did you manage a whole conversation without saying her name?"

Harry shrugged. Ron grinned at him. "Well then, in that case. Mum's going to kill her for climbing trees again. Do you have your broom with you?"

It took Harry weeks and weeks to create a corporeal Patronus. He made sure of it.

Once he'd gotten the hang of the spell, which admittedly did take a few weeks, he began purposefully doing it wrong. Each time he failed, Sirius gave him a small, reassuring smile, closed his eyes for a long moment, and summoned up his own Patronus, a large black dog, similar to his animagus form.

The demonstrations were useful, though Harry didn't really need so many. But that wasn't the point. Harry was well aware that he was not being taught this for his own sake. There weren't going to be dementors at school next year. Hopefully, he'd never have to go near another dementor again.

But that wasn't the point.

Sirius mentioned using the Patronus as a method of communication one day, and Lupin jumped on it. After that, Sirius sent messages to Harry and Lupin from across the house constantly, and Lupin spent a day explaining the theory behind it to Harry, even though he hadn't yet been able to form a corporeal Patronus, which was fine. Harry was perfectly happy to serve as a flimsy cover for Sirius' unorthodox therapy, as long as he got something out of it.

And he did. Harry learned quite a lot. More than just the Patronus, once he'd figured it out. He was learning how to prevent himself from casting successfully, how to control how much magic he used. Harry was hopeful that this meant he was learning focus. Snape would be happy, come the start of term.

As the end of the summer (and the Quidditch World Cup) approached, Sirius stopped smiling reassuringly at Harry when he failed, and began to look sceptical.

"Alright, Harry, drop it," Sirius said one day, grinning at him. "Remus is in the loo. It'll be between you and me. Can you really do it? Let's see your Patronus."

Harry deliberated. It didn't really matter if Remus could see them or not, though he thought maybe the ruse would be more difficult to keep up if everyone was in on it. This way he and Sirius could have something to keep from Remus, and so a reason to continue.

He shrugged and cast, thinking about how much happier Sirius seemed now, in comparison to the first time Harry met him. A stag burst out of his wand and trotted around the room. Sirius stared at it and blinked rapidly.

"Prongs," he said, and turned a blinding grin on Harry, who was shocked when Sirius suddenly descended on him and gave him a tight hug.

Harry lay in his bed the night before they were due to leave for the World Cup, unable to sleep but for excitement. Draco was going to be at the World Cup, as was Blaise.

Anthony was decidedly not going, even when Harry invited him. Anthony didn't care one jot about Quidditch. Hermione declined as well, though she had a better reason than 'eh', which was the best Anthony could come up with. Harry'd been annoyed at how much indifference Anthony could express in one written word. Hermione had at least managed a sentence of regretful apathy. The remaining four pages of her letter were what Harry considered her excuse, though they were really more Hermione going on and on about Greece, which was where she was spending most of the summer.

Bookworms were useless when it came to brooms, Harry decided.

The Weasleys were also going. Ron's father managed to get tickets at the last minute, according to Ron. He'd invited Neville and Dudley, which fulfilled Harry's promise to Dudley, which Harry had been appreciative of as he hadn't been able to think of anything else short of lying to Uncle Vernon.

The Aunt Marge Visit went well, according to the letter Dudley sent for Harry's birthday. Aunt Marge had indeed found better things to talk about than Dudley's mother, though that didn't mean she didn't mention Petunia at all. 'She's Aunt Marge', Dudley wrote. Harry understood that sentiment more completely than Dudley could imagine.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because Harry woke to Sirius jostling him and threatening a bath-in-bed if he didn't get up. Harry was disoriented, having had a strange dream, and his head hurt.

He waved Sirius out of the room with promises to be downstairs for breakfast in half an hour, then sat, rubbing his forehead absentmindedly and thinking about the dream. It hadn't been pleasant, and Harry was glad Sirius woke him when he did. There had been a snake, and a baby. Or something, the baby had looked odd. And there had been a dead body, an old man. Harry shuddered. The snake had been eating him.

All in all, it was disturbing. Harry got up and started his morning routine, trying to forget. It had been so vivid.

When Sirius, Remus and Harry arrived at the large camping grounds and had their tent pitched, Harry went exploring. The Weasleys were already here, had been since last night. Harry saw Neville, Dudley and Ron pass by, apparently collecting water, and they stopped for a short conversation before continuing their journey back to their tent. As far as Harry knew, none of his Slytherin friends had arrived yet, though he kept an eye out for the giant blue tent Draco had described as he wandered the area. Remus and Sirius were still at their site, setting up a fire and ignoring their neighbours, who were blatant with their stares. Harry knew some of those stares had followed him as he wandered off, and remembered Sirius' advice to keep alert. He began to notice the ridiculous attire of the few wizards that had bothered to obey the muggle dress requirements, and grinned as a man in a flowery nightgown walked past, muttering to himself and lugging a pail of water.

Eventually, he ended up finding the Weasleys again, and joined them. Arthur, who had lent Remus the flying car, was talking to another, sombre man.

"It's a great loss," he was saying. Harry sat down on a log and surveyed the campsite. They appeared to have pitched the tent by hand. He was impressed. Ron saw him looking and rolled his eyes.

"Dad made us do it the muggle way," he said. "He was really excited."

Harry grinned. "Remus set up our tent in about five seconds, but Sirius and I were playing fetch. I threw the stick too close to the tent and he landed on it."

On the other side of the fire, Arthur nodded soberly to his companion. "Barty was a good man."

Ron laughed, as did Neville and Dudley.

"How was Aunt Marge?" Harry asked Dudley. "I know you said she was fine, but..."

Dudley shrugged. "She bought me a Playstation. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I mean, I couldn't bring it to Hogwarts with me."

"You just can't trust a house elf these days."

"What's a Playstation?" Neville asked. Dudley set about in an attempt to explain the wonders of video games to Ron and Neville, who were still having trouble with the concept of light bulbs. Harry sat back and watched, making no attempt to help. It wasn't like he'd ever played a video game.

Fred and George joined them in the middle of Dudley's explanation, and sat down on either side of Harry. He glanced between them, and they grinned in unison.

"Hey, Harry," said the twin on the left. Harry labelled him Fred, and stuck with it. George spoke next.

"How's life with two Marauders been treating you?"

Harry smiled. "It's been great, actually, I -"

"-should introduce us?" George and Fred looked at each other over Harry's head.

"Why, Harry, that's so thoughtful of you!" Fred and George linked their arms with Harry's, whose eyes widened in surprise at the motion. Before he could move, the two of them stood up, taking him with them.

"Positively delightful, what a jolly good fellow you are, Harry."

"I-"

"We saw a few Slytherins on the way over, didn't we George?"

"We did, Fred, we did. They were tucked away in a corner, we were lucky to see them. Doubt we would have found them without two pairs of eyes."

"I don't know," George said. "The blonde hair was kind of a giveaway. But they were well hidden."

"I suppose we'll have to find them again," Fred grinned. "After Harry introduces us, of course."

Harry rolled his eyes. Good to know that Draco was here, then. The twins began frog-marching Harry down the path, swerving unerringly between tents and making a beeline for the area where Harry knew Remus and Sirius had set up camp.

"How do you know where our site is?" Harry asked suspiciously as the familiar red tent came into view.

"We looked, of course," Fred said, and grinned. His twin matched him tooth for tooth.

"Oh, don't look so disturbed," George said. "We just looked."

They reached their destination in record time. Sirius looked up as they approached, and smiled uncertainly at the two older boys restraining his godson. They continued to grip Harry's arms until Harry rolled his eyes and said, "Sirius, this is Fred and George Weasley. Fred and George, this is Sirius. Or Padfoot, I suppose."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at the mention of his nickname. "Weasley, eh?" he said.

Fred and George nodded enthusiastically, still gripping Harry's arms, which were starting to feel numb. Harry very carefully extricated himself and sat down by the fire. This seemed to snap Fred and George out of their stupor, and they threw themselves on the ground next to Harry, grinning.

"We've heard so much about you, sir," George said.

"The mastermind behind so many of the Marauder's misdeeds." Fred sighed. "We have so much to learn from you."

Sirius had been confused at first, then pleased, then perfectly happy to regale the Weasley twins with stories of his Hogwarts days. When Remus reappeared, having gone to get water, he found the four of them howling with laughter over Sirius' impression of a suit of armour that had been charmed to follow Flitwick around the school, mimicking his every movement and providing a running commentary, courtesy of a brief truce with Peeves. Remus listened for a moment, and grinned.

"You're talking about when Peeves turned on us and attacked you and James with that suit of armour, aren't you?"

"Remus!" Sirius gave him a dirty look. "You ruined the story."

"No, he didn't!" Fred protested.

"Go on," his twin added. "Tell us about Peeves."

As Sirius began to speak again, gesturing with his arms for emphasis, Harry spotted Draco and Blaise walking down the path between the various tents, and waved. They spotted him, then the Weasleys and Sirius. Draco stopped and stared, though Blaise continued walking and even had the presence of mind to reach back and grab Draco's arm, tugging him along.

"Hi Harry," he said, sitting down on the grass with Harry and attempting to pull Draco down next to him without looking away from Sirius' impersonation of a cowering Remus. Remus was objecting to such crass misrepresentation and demanding that Sirius tell them what he'd done.

"Well, brave Gryffindor that I am, I-"

"Ran off in the opposite direction like an eight year old girl," Remus finished smugly. Sirius gave him another dirty look as the twins chortled.

"It's called a tactical retreat, Moony," he said in a long-suffering voice.

"He seems cheerful," Draco said, having resisted Blaise's attempts to pull him to the ground. He sat down fastidiously next to Harry, his cloak underneath him. Harry looked at him askance.

"I like these robes," Draco said defensively. When Harry's expression did not change, Draco huffed and shoved him with a shoulder. "Shut up. What are Weasleys doing here?"

"They wanted to meet Sirius," Harry said, shrugging. "They just kind of invited themselves over."

They listened to a few more stories, but Draco seemed antsy, so Harry excused the three of them with a wave and pulled Draco and Blaise off away from the tent. They began walking in the direction Blaise and Draco had come from, and Draco relaxed noticeably.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked. Blaise watched Draco expectantly as they waited for an answer. Draco's movements were slightly jerky as he looked around at the people passing them by, clearly avoiding Harry's gaze.

"Nothing's wrong, why do you ask?"

Harry rolled his eyes and glanced at Blaise, whose mouth was twisted with impatience as he watched Draco. He obviously knew something. If Harry couldn't get it out of Draco, he was going to have to get Blaise alone and interrogate him instead.

"You're all..." Harry waved his hands helplessly. "Twitchy. Or something. And prissy."

Blaise grinned at Harry's words, and at Draco's offended glare.

"I am not prissy."

"'I like these robes,'" Harry mimicked, and mock-curtseyed at Draco. "That's not prissy? Really?"

Draco made a face. "Well I do like them. And they were expensive. Mother will have my head if I ruin them." He paused, apparently considering something. "And I'm not twitchy either. It's not my fault if you surround yourself with Gryffindors, though I've no idea why you'd want to."

Harry sighed. "I like some Gryffindors. Where's your tent, anyway?"

"It's over there somewhere," Draco said, gesturing vaguely. "Let's go look around."

He led them in the opposite direction, and Harry looked at Blaise, confused. Blaise had the beginnings of a glare on his face, though he softened when he looked at Harry and shrugged apologetically.

They never did visit Draco's tent.

The match was spectacular, and Harry enjoyed it thoroughly. Sirius and Remus sat next to him, cheering unabashedly for Ireland every time they scored a goal. The Bulgarian seeker caught the snitch, but Ireland still won, and their throats were hoarse by the end of the night.

"Bloody amazing," Sirius said, grinning widely as they sat around the table inside their tent, nursing cups of honeyed tea. After a few hours of rehashing the match, they all retired, and Harry fell asleep with a grin still firmly lodged on his face. It had been a great night, and an even better summer.

He woke a few hours later to Sirius jostling him again, his face white and anxious.

"Get some clothes on and get your wand," he said, his voice eerily calm. Harry could hear noises in the next room, though it was the scream that really got him out of bed.

"What's going on?" he asked as he stumbled into a pair of trousers. Harry had never seen Sirius like this, his entire being tense and alert, his wand at the ready as though they were about to be attacked. When Harry had first met him, it was sometimes difficult to get Sirius' attention at all; such focus was unthinkable.

"Some of the Death Eaters that got off decided to have a bit of fun," Sirius said darkly, and Harry nearly fell over.

"What?" he asked, shocked. Remus appeared at the door an instant later, summoned by Harry's raised voice. He was almost as tense as Sirius.

"Just some revellers, drunk, no doubt," he said in an attempt to be soothing.

"They've got that family of muggles spinning round up in the air," Sirius said, ruining any soothing effect Remus might have had. "We're going to help stop them."

"And by we, Sirius means the two of us," Remus told Harry firmly. "Go into the forest, try to find the Weasleys." He paused, staring at Harry's pale face, as though deliberating what he should say. "They're setting things on fire, you can't stay here. Find the Weasleys. We'll find you when everything calms down."

"And keep alert," Sirius said, a parody of his earlier admonition. Still groggy and bewildered, Harry did as he was told and followed them out of the tent. The forest was only a few meters from their site, and Sirius and Remus were heading toward all the destruction. Harry's path was a much calmer alternative.

Not that the forest was calm by any means, Harry realised as he stepped into the trees and discovered how many others had had the same idea as Remus. The forest was thronging with panicked, confused people. It was going to be a trick to find anyone in this, let alone the Weasleys. Harry considered looking for Draco instead, figuring that such bright hair would be hard to miss, even at night.

He began searching, very aware of how alone he was as small groups of people rushed past, shoving him out of the way when they caught him by surprise.

Harry stood flush against a tree and tried to think. He needed to find someone. Wandering around in the dark like this wasn't working. And Remus said they'd find him, which probably meant one of them would send their Patronus after him; that was the method Remus usually had Sirius use when Harry was out wandering the fields and took too long in getting home.

Harry considered the idea from several angles. He doubted he'd be in trouble for using magic in this situation, and the Patronus would be able to find whoever he sent the message to. Harry would just have to follow it. And it would be nice to have light and company.

Harry decided to look for Draco. He and Blaise might be in the same situation, and anyway, he hadn't seen them since before the match. Ron, Neville and Dudley had found Harry on the walk back to the tents, and they'd all had a good time arguing about the outcome.

Harry cast the Patronus and sent it off with the message for Draco. It cantered along, and Harry followed at a rapid pace. Another upside of wandering around with a Patronus as large as Harry's was that people saw it ahead of time and Harry wasn't getting jostled anymore.

He found Draco at the edge of the forest, and what's more, the Weasley group was with him. Harry paused at the edge of the clearing, because Ron and Draco were glaring daggers at each other and Harry was not about to get caught in the middle of whatever argument they were having. He cancelled his Patronus, even, and listened.

"I bet your daddy's out there with the rest of them, levitating muggles," Ron was saying accusingly. Harry was taken aback by the level of ferocity in his voice.

"Fuck you, Weasley," Draco snarled. He had been leaning against a tree, but now he was bristling and advancing on Ron as though he'd hit him. Blaise stepped forward, thankfully, to restrain Draco and interrupt the fight. Neville, Dudley and the other Weasleys weren't about to help, from the look of things.

"Look, this is stupid," Blaise said reasonably. "Now is not the time, both of you."

"Just because you're friends with Harry Potter doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do, Zabini," Ron sneered. "Did you even see what they were doing to those muggles, Malfoy, or did you just think it was funny? Does Harry know what your father does for fun?"

"Shut the fuck up," Draco snarled dangerously. Blaise's efforts to defuse the fight were obviously not working, despite his continued attempts to keep the two apart. Neville had finally stepped forward to put a hand on Ron's arm, at least. "He does not."

Ron snorted, and Harry thought this was about the time to intervene. He tried not to think about who the 'he' might be in Draco's last words, summoned his Patronus again, and sent it out to Draco, following closely. The stag caught everyone's attention, and Harry looked around at them all, schooling his face into relief.

"Great, you're all together," he said. The tension from moments ago was still there, but Harry pretended not to notice. Draco was still breathing heavily, but everything else about him spoke of calm. He listened to the message Harry's patronus gave him and smiled briefly.

"I was rooting for Bulgaria," he admitted. "And I'm fine."

Harry looked around at the rest of his friends, noting that Ron still looked furious. Neville was still at his side, though his face was pale, as was Dudley's. The twins had Ginny between them, and were watching the entire scene with intrigued expressions.

Blaise was watching Harry with a similar expression, and Harry turned away from him. One person, at least, had seen through his pretence. And he and Harry were going to talk soon. Answers would be had.

A/N: Allow me to reiterate: This will NOT be Ginny/Harry. It will not. I cannot do it. I cannot. Just so you know. She is allowed to exist though, so here she is. *g* Anywho, http : / j1mmyj6zz .deviantart . com/ made me a banner! It is positively lovely, and you can see it by clicking on my homepage in my profile and clicking on fanfiction. It is not here because I do not have the faintest notion of whether I am even allowed to put it here, even if I was tech savvy enough to do it. But it is very lovely, and I was thrilled to receive it. So thank you! And thank you to everyone else for reading and reviewing and enjoying this story! Horray for the beginning of fourth year; I think this is a tremendous way to start it. :D