Chapter 11 – Preparations

The following morning came about too quickly for Harrys liking, he had spent the majority of the night on the bathroom floor and cleaning himself up after he had lost control. No one had come to disturb him, and he was thankful they had left him alone, though he was dreading facing everyone. Once he was showered and changed, he made his way down to the kitchen hoping everyone was going to sleep in a bit and that he could get breakfast out of the way with before anyone else.

There was no one in sight as he sat down at the kitchen table making sure he kept his leg elevated as he had not done that all night. His head was loud as it scrutinised his actions from the night before. How would he apologise to Ron? What did he need to do, he didn't understand what he did wrong, but he knew he had done something and something bad, he was a pathetic, useless freak? Harry mulled everything over in his mind, it was his fault Ginny thought she needed to make sure he had his leg up, if he refused to do that none of this would have happened, if he hadn't been so selfish and disrespectful to everyone it would have been ok. He was disturbed by the creak of the stairs, someone had come downstairs, he forced air into his lungs a couple of times before turning around to see who it was.

"I was hoping it was you up early and down here" began the young Ginger girl who was making her way down the corridor and into the kitchen. "Its still early, do you want a cup of tea?" she asked gently. Harry nodded, she nodded back and smiled gently in his direction as she put some hot water on the stove and brought out two mugs ready for the tea. The water was soon boiled and two cups of milky, sugary tea were sitting on the table in front of Harry and now Ginny next to him.

"Thank you Gin, look I'm really sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean to cause any problems at all, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or make Ron mad for touching you inappropriately, I was stupid, selfish…."

"Stop Harry, you didn't do anything wrong yesterday, it was Ron who had the problem, not me, I was fine about it" Ginny placed her hand over Harrys free one and rubbed it back and forth trying to comfort him as she observed his tired eyes. Not wanting to question him she continued "When Ron comes down, you are not going to apologise, you have done nothing wrong. Though if he does kick off, I think Mum might just have had enough" both of them laughed and drank their tea. They didn't talk much but the silence was comfortable.

It must have been about ten minutes later before anyone else had come down to the kitchen and they were unsurprised that it was Remus, he was always an early morning person. He yawned as he used the hot water to pour himself a cup of tea and joining the pair on the table.

"Morning both" he yawned

"Morning Remus" they both replied

"Harry you look dead on your feet" Remus stated as he looked up at the tired looking Harry

"Just couldn't get comfortable with this thing on last night, its not the easiest thing to sleep with" replied Harry lying smoothly but his body tensing, Ginny noticing placed her hand on his good leg for some comfort, Harry appreciated this, it kept him grounded.

"I know it can't be easy, it's not long since you have had the procedure done so it is going to take a bit to get used to it. If you can't sleep tonight or any other night come get me or Sirius and we will do what we can to help, if it's a continual problem we can go to Poppy and see what she suggests."

"Thanks"

"Anyway, I wanted a word. With your trial date fast approaching how would you feel preparing a statement for the jury? Its important they know what your side of the story is. We also need to research into the laws of Underage magic and the data the Ministry keep on young Wizards, this will allow us to use statements in the law to defend you. We must also look into wand spell usage and how priori incantatem shows the last spell on a wand and only that."

"Yeah, Ill be okay doing that, are there books here to help with that"

"Sirius' father was a well thought of man and was a stickler for the classic laws, there should be some books up in the library. Sirius and I will be up there too preparing for Sirius' trial too so we will be on hand to help"

"Okay sounds good" replied Harry.

"Wonderful! Ah Padfoot, you've managed to arise, was just telling Harry about our plans today"

"Too early, talk to me in half an hour" Sirius muttered back. Harry, Ginny and Remus all laughed at this as Fred and George apparated into the kitchen making both Harry and Sirius jump. That was followed by Hermione and Mrs Weasley coming own the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good Morning Dears, was thinking scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast if you give me ten it will be ready" said Mrs Weasley fussing about with the pots and pans. Hermione sat down next to Ginny and they started talking about some sort of new hair potion Hermione had read about in the daily Prophet. Harry's head took that opportunity to dive back into his dark thoughts, concentrating on the dark , heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he was about to cry again. He couldn't let that happen so he sat there trying his hardest to breathe through the turmoil.

Harry was so stuck in is head that he didn't realise that food had been put in front of him and everyone else had started to eat. It was only when Ginny nudged him that he started picking at his plate trying to persuade himself to put food in his stomach knowing exactly what would happen in ten minutes time if he did. Regardless of that he forced himself to eat as much as he could, well about half of it and used the excuse of eating too much the previous night. Harry excused himself to the library stopping off at his room to empty his stomach and pick up some parchment and quill.

Once at the library he sat down at his usual desk, unrolling a piece of parchment so he could write, he then waited for Remus and Sirius to join him as he didn't know where the books Remus told him about were. All three were soon sat in a row along the desk, each sporting a magical law book. Harry was reading "A Complete Guide to the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery"

'Underage Sorcery as discussed in chapter 1 is the use of any kind of magic outside the boundaries of a magical institutional school, there are however exemptions to this rule. Exemptions are only valid for life threatening situations and must satisfy all of the criteria below;

§ The sorcerer must be in a situation where there is a high chance in death or serious injury for example

o Falling from a great height

o Stopping a murder or serious injury to another

o Encounter with a magical beast Ministry of Magic rating 3 and above

§ The magic used must be defensive

§ Magic must not be used once the danger has past

§ Ministry officials need to be notified after the incident occurs'

Harry read on, it was interesting to find out what the law was and how it adapted to his situation. Thinking about what happened, or what he could remember what had happened he realised that he satisfied all of the criteria in decree. He was being chased by dementors, creatures that could suck out your soul, not only that he was hit by a car and could have died from either of those situations. The patronus charm was a defensive spell, an even though he didn't cast it, it still satisfied the criteria. Magic was no used after the danger had past and the ministry was notified because he had the letters that were expelling him.

Once he had figured that out it was time for lunch, Mrs Weasley brought them up a plate of sandwiches. Harry was glad to see Remus and Sirius were still too occupied and he managed to skip eating anything at all. He spent the afternoon writing up part of his statement using the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Magic, pleased with his work he asked Remus to look over his punctuation and spelling before finishing up for the day.

All three left the library and went into the living room to watch a bit of TV, the studying and constant concentration making everyone tired. The other Weasleys soon came in to join them all tired themselves after a day cleaning. Mrs Weasley told them food would be ready in an hour, so they had that time to relax and unwind. Remus went into the kitchen to help Mr Weasley with the dinner whilst everyone else split into groups to play different games.

Fred and George joint Ginny and then finally Harry in some card games whilst Ron and Hermione played chess. Sirius had fallen asleep on the sofa and so no one bothered him. The four of them played Wizards Rummy and Witches Switch, alternating in between rounds. Harry wasn't very good but at least they were having a good time.

Dinner was ready at seven, Mr Weasley had just come home after a day at work and joined them as food was being placed in front of them. There were no arguments that night and after food was finished they were allowed to use the remaining time before bed to relax. Harry spent the time staring at the TV but not paying much attention to it, all he could think of were the overwhelming urge to go and rid his stomach of the nutrients he didn't deserve, or the thought of comfort when he slid the blade through his flesh later that evening.

When they were allowed to go to bed, Harry swiftly made to leave the room, the nauseous feeling becoming too much to handle but he was stopped by Ron standing in front of him.

"Harry, I'm sorry I overreacted yesterday"

"Its okay, friends fight, we are allowed arguments" replied Harry

"Ok, uh cool, do you fancy a game of chess tomorrow then after we finish cleaning"

"Sure, I'd love to" replied Harry enthusiastically.

"Nice one, will see you tomorrow, Night Harry, night everyone" Ron called before making his way up the stairs. Harry glanced around to see Hermione rolling her eyes and Ginny trying to hold back a laugh, Harry had to do the same as he bid them all goodnight and made his way up to his room. There he let his thoughts get the better of him and was sick into his toilet, after he felt significantly less nauseous, he added two new cuts to his arm to numb himself before bed, there he tossed and turned before falling into an uneasy sleep.