Harry saw the blow coming and did his best to mitigate the damage. He wasn't going to be able to get completely out of the way in time, but he shifted back, arms coming up to protect his head, and chin ducking down as he waited for it.
Sasuke wouldn't hurt him, not seriously, not the way he really could if he wanted to. But he'd also never seen Sasuke this angry. Or maybe he had. After the wizard attack in Konoha, when Harry had been too scared he would be expelled to tell Sasuke the truth about magic. Sasuke had been so furious then, but also frightened. Badly. And he had pushed and shoved at Harry then too, trying to figure out what was going on. But Sasuke was even angrier now and Harry didn't know what to tell him to make it better. He couldn't tell him the truth. He'd promised Dumbledore. He was part of the Order now, and that came with responsibilities. Responsibilities that went beyond just him and what he wanted.
Harry would manage. He always did. He just hated having to fight with Sasuke.
The blow caught Harry across one arm and the temple, Sasuke's height advantage enough to make it feel like Harry's head was slamming down even if it was just his chin thudding against his chest. He stumbled. But his forearm took most of the shock. It hurt, but nothing was damaged. He tried shoving back, but his balance was off and he wasn't going to manage much.
Sasuke grabbed for him. Maybe to help keep him on his feet. Maybe to push him over. But then Sasuke was knocked clean off his feet and a good three meters away.
"Sasuke!" Harry yelped, reaching out one hand as if he could catch the other boy. Sasuke tumbled once before transforming the movement into a smooth roll up to his feet, weapon in hand. Naruto was suddenly in front of Harry, kunai also drawn, and body a solid warm mass in front of Harry, blocking his view of just about everything.
"Touch him again and I'll turn your insides out!" someone yelled and the voice was so harsh it took Harry a second to recognize it.
Harry's head jerked back to Sasuke. "No!" he yelled. Because Sasuke had only one way of dealing with something he saw as a problem.
Sasuke seemed to understand the situation at the same moment Harry did and something pained crossed his face quickly before the knife went away as if it had never existed. He was still hunched over, still looking ready to fight at any moment, but he was at least aware enough to know that a kunai was not an acceptable option.
Harry's ears were still ringing a bit, but he shook it off and pushed around Naruto. Or tried to. A hand snagged the bottom of his shirt and jerked him back enough to keep him in reach.
"Let him go! Let him go right now!"
Harry didn't try to fight it. This already looked bad enough as it was. He held up his hands imploringly. "Hermione, calm down."
It had seemed like a reasonable thing to say at the time but for some reason it only made her more furious. She and Ron were standing just in front of the main doors, the invisibility cloak clutched in Ron's hand and while Hermione had the map in hers. They were both red in the face, short of breath like they'd had to run from one end of the building to the other. Hermione had her wand pointed at Sasuke and didn't look like she was going to rethink that any time soon.
"Everything's fine," Harry told her. Hermione always did have a tendency to overreact to these kinds of things, though Harry could admit it must not have looked very good. They just didn't know Sasuke very well. Harry had seen Sasuke and Naruto fight about things before, this was just how they handled arguments.
"Shut up, Harry," Hermione replied sharply and it threw Harry off. Why was she mad at him?
"No, really, it's –"
"You – are an idiot. So just – just shut up and get over here."
"We were just – "
"Now, Potter!" and for some reason she sounded like she was about to start crying. Hermione wasn't the type for crying. Not like some of the other girls in their year. Sure, she did it from time to time and it was awful and neither Ron nor Harry ever knew what to say to her to get her to stop when it happened, but Hermione only cried when she couldn't figure out how to fix something.
"Alright," Harry told her, because agreeing with Hermione was usually the safest option. He tried to step forward, but Naruto must have had the world's firmest grip pinching onto the edge of his t-shirt. "Um, can you let go now?" Harry muttered.
Hermione heard him well enough. "You don't touch him either!" she yelled at Naruto.
Naruto didn't even flinch. "She gonna spell you?" he muttered back, not exactly whispering but clearly trying to keep it quiet.
"Jinks. Or Hex," Harry corrected before shaking his head. "No. It's fine. Just, everyone calm down, okay?"
Hermione didn't look ready to calm down anytime soon and Sasuke was still braced for an attack, but Naruto finally let him go. Harry didn't bother fixing his shirt, it was helplessly twisted around after everything. Instead he kept his eyes on Hermione. Her wand hand was shaking she was so furious but Harry had seen her nail a target under worse conditions. She might not be the fastest dueler, but she made up for it in breadth of knowledge and accuracy.
"Come on, Hermione," Harry cajoled, trying to keep his voice relaxed and friendly. "You're not actually going to hex someone unarmed on the front drive."
"The hell I'm not."
Harry's eyes widened a bit and he glanced over at Ron, looking for a bit of support. But Ron was still red in the face and was glaring at Sasuke like the other boy had cheated for Slytherin during the last game to decide the House Cup. "Don't be stupid, Harry," Ron finally said, his voice clipped and sharp like he was hurling each word out from him. "Get over here, alright? No more of this."
Harry wasn't exactly sure what this was supposed to refer to. Arguing on the steps? Sneaking about after curfew? Order business? Being friends with Sasuke and Naruto? Harry knew his friends weren't wild about his cousin, but this was going a bit far even for them. Harry scrambled to find something to say to calm everything down. He had known keeping the Order business a secret was going to make a lot of people in his life unhappy, but he had never thought it would spiral so far out of control like this.
"Harry Potter," Hermione snapped, "if you say this is fine one more time, I might just hex you too."
Harry flinched and didn't miss the way Sasuke moved suddenly much closer. Still back far enough that he could easily watch all of them, but halving the distance that separated them. "Can you not threaten to hurt me like that?"
"Me?" Hermione shrieked, sounding a bit like the word was choking her on the way out. Harry cringed and found himself moving forward without thinking about it. Anything that upset Hermione that much needed to stop right now.
"Alright, alright," Harry reassured her. "Look we can discuss this inside, okay? Can we just stop pointing wands at each other?"
"We are not done with our discussion," Sasuke growled.
"Oh, yes, you are. You're completely done. You're not coming anywhere near Harry ever again, do you hear me?"
"Hermione! Don't you think you're overreacting, just a little here?"
Hermione finally lowered her wand, once Harry was close enough that it was more of a threat to him than anyone else. But she kept it clenched tightly in one hand and Ron kept glaring past Harry as if daring the nin to even try anything. Hermione's mouth was one tight line, like she was trying to keep all the words she wanted to say from coming out. How she could look so pissed but also like she was about to start crying, Harry didn't know.
"It's okay, Hermione, I promise," Harry repeated, unable to help himself. She just didn't understand.
"The fact that you believe that it is is what's most upsetting," Hermione replied and the absolute certainty in her tone made Harry feel the first bit of unease. As if he was the one caught off balance. "You were arguing."
Harry managed a weak smile. "So? I argue with people a lot. So do you."
Hermione shook her head. "I've never hit someone during an argument. Not with someone I called a friend. Or family. You don't do that to someone you care about. And it's not how you win an argument. Harry – it's not how you get someone to do something they don't want to do. You – you can understand the difference, right?"
Harry didn't know why he was blushing or why he suddenly felt so embarrassed. He certainly hadn't been the one to do anything wrong. "Well, yes, but this is different."
Hermione grabbed his hand and held it tight. "It isn't. It really, really, isn't, Harry. And the second you start trying to justify it like that is the moment you've got a serious problem. But it's – it's okay if you don't understand that right now. Just trust me on this? Okay?
Harry's ears felt like they were on fire and he couldn't figure out why this mattered so much to her, or why Ron was so firmly on her side on this one. He just didn't want to talk about this anymore. Didn't want to go back to fighting with Sasuke and hating himself for it. Didn't want to try to figure out how to lie to the people he called his friends. Didn't want to think about the simpering, but soft spoken man he'd had tea with just an hour or so before that was now apparently dead. Probably dead because of them. Because the Order had come knocking on his door. Because Harry Potter had almost been a friend.
Harry rubbed at his face and tried to will the flush away, before scraping his hand through his hair. "Can – can we just go to bed now?"
"Sure," Ron piped up, finally joining back in. He nodded at Harry like that was a capital idea. Harry started in, not glancing over at Sasuke, not wanting to see the look on Sasuke's face.
Hermione hesitated longer, but eventually nodded too. She took her hand back and took a moment to smooth out her clothes as if she could wipe away the temper. She had her voice under control by the time she spoke.
"If you ever strike Harry like that again, there won't be enough of you left to worry about being brought up on charges of assault," she announced. "I don't know what kind of sorry excuse for a household you were brought up in, but we do not bully or physically abuse the people we care about. I don't care anymore if it's actually true that you're related or not. You clearly don't deserve to be."
