Chapter 7

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters used in this story that honour belongs to J K Rowling and the Warner Brothers.

"CEDRIC! NO! leave him alone, don't kill him! CEDRIC!"

Harry sat bolt upright, he had visited the graveyard again in his dreams. His hair was wet like he had just washed it, he was shivering from his cold, damp pyjamas. Harry sat still listening for movements from the floor above to see if Remus or Sirius had heard, to Harrys relief, there were no movements or noise to be heard, though he still felt guilty.

He looked at his clock 3:25 and thought for a moment. Harry then searched his trunk until he found the cool pair of scissors which he put in his breast pocket and some spare clothes which he threw over his shoulder before picking up his crutches and making his way as quietly as possible to the bathroom. He locked the door.

The bathroom was white and blue tiled with a white laminate floor. A cabinet sat above the sink and a mirror was hung on its right. Harry sat down and took out his scissors. They were cool against his skin, he rolled up the sleeve to his pyjama shirt and looked at his pale arm which had many white scars going up his wrist, interrupted every few inches by fresh scars and scabs which were yet to heal. Harry opened the scissors and placed it's point onto his arm between two white scars before adding pressure and cutting his arm in three places.

The blood rose to the skin and trickled down his wrist and over his hand onto the floor, the guilt was draining out of him onto the white floor ready to be washed away. Harry watched the blood dry and harden before he cleaned the pool of blood off the floor with a hand towel before cleaning his arm stung as he wiped off the dry blood with water. Harry then used an old scarf to wrap tightly around his arm before changing into his spare clothes, a long sleeved top and a pair of jeans both were way too big for him.

Harry picked up his scissors, opened the cabinet and found a very old box of tissues where he hid the scissors in the bottom of the box. Harry then picked up his crutches and unlocked the door before he made his way as quietly as he could back to his room. Harry put his bloody towel and his damp clothes in a corner of his wardrobe, he would sort them out later.

He made his way over to the sofa and sat down. He looked over at his clock, 5:49, he didn't realise he had been gone so long. Never mind Harry thought, he opened the curtains and stared out of the window. The sun was peaking over the adjacent houses. The sky was a brilliantly coloured red and purple, Harry watched some blackbirds flying form roof to roof, squawking at each other.

Everything was so peaceful, how could everything keep going when Harry felt so depressed and lonely. He watched the sun rise higher turning the sky from red to orange to yellow, the street was coming to life. Harry saw someone walk out to their car in a suit, looking to go to work. The trees were gaining more colour, the green got brighter as the sun rose higher. The clouds turned form shape to shape easily as the sky finally turned a light blue. A knock on his door made Harry jump, heart pounding he braced himself for a good shouting at but it never came. Instead a friendly voice met his ear

"Harry?" the door opened "Harry?" the voice repeated as the door opened. It was Remus, he was taken aback when he saw Harry fully clothed looking at the door in horror. "Harry? Are you alright?" asked Remus. Harry finally snapped back into reality and responded

"Yes, I'm good" Harry replied

"Alright" said Remus curiously "Sirius has made some breakfast if you would like to join us" Remus continued in the same tone.

"Ok, cool, I'm coming now" said Harry hurriedly as he picked up his crutches and sped past Remus leaving him puzzled for a moment or two. He must be tired thought Remus as he followed Harry down to the kitchen were Sirius was waiting for his return. Harry sat opposite Remus who was watching him closely as Sirius served them some toast, egg beans and sausages. Harry started eating his food with no hesitation, even though he wasn't hungry at all. Harry wanted to act as normally as possible to avoid any questions. Once he had finished Harry made to get up and go back upstairs to his room or maybe see Buckbeak, he didn't really feel like doing anything and he was sure Remus and Sirius had other things to do. However, Harry stopped as he made his way to the door

"Where you off to pup?" asked Sirius

"Upstairs, I have some homework to finish off" Harry replied quickly

"Alright then, if you need any help Remus and I are here, alright?"

"Yeah ok" Harry said and went back up to his room, leaving Remus and Sirius curious glances. Harry blocked his bedroom door with a doorstop he had bewitched to withstand someone pushing the door to get in. He then went over to the sofa and sat down, laying outstretched. Hedwig flew down onto Harrys lap and let him stroke her, she softly hooted at the window, which Harry opened and let her fly out.

Harry sat on the sofa thinking about everything and everyone. He thought about the graveyard and how he could have stopped Cedric getting killed by taking the cup on his own. Or realised where he was sooner and getting back to the portkey. Then he thought about all he had done wrong, he let Wormtail cut him and take his blood without a fight, then ran from the danger and letting Voldemort return to power. He thought about where he was now but was glad Peter was caught.

A knock on his bedroom door woke him from thought. Sirius called "Are you ok Harry? I've been calling you for the last five minutes, you have been in there all morning, why don't you come out for a spot of lunch" Harry hadn't realised that he had been in thought for so long, he had been sitting there starring into space all morning and he didn't really realise it.

Harry then picked up his crutches and removed the doorstop and opened the door. There he found Sirius waiting with a concerned look about him

"Sorry Padfoot, I just needed to finish my last inch or two"

"It's alright pup, come on Remus has made some soup and you still need to take your potion today" Sirius said in a mournful voice. They walked down to the kitchen where Remus had prepared the soup and was waiting for them.

"What took you so long?" Remus enquired

"Harry had to finish the last few inches of his homework" Sirius said tucking into his soup. Harry nodded and did the same thing though only ate half of it before making another excuse to go upstairs to his room to sit and think. Remus and Sirius looked at him as he left, thinking something wasn't right or did Harry just have a lot of homework. After half an hour Sirius went to check on Harry,

…

Once Harry had made sure nor Sirius or Remus had followed him, he made his way to the bathroom and locked the door, he searched the old tissue box for his scissors and rolled up the sleeve of his long sleeved top. Harry opened the scissors up and placed them on some untouched skin and he made two more cuts in his arm and let the blood flow for a while.

Harry didn't know how long he had been sitting three but his heart skipped a beat when he heard someone coming up the stairs. He quickly wrapped an old clothe over his cuts and pulled his long sleeve back down over them. The cuts stung as they kept bleeding into the cloth. Harry then cleaned up the blood on the floor before shoving the towel he used for leaning the pool of blood to the bottom of the laundry basket. He then flushed the toilet so that it looked like he had just come out of the loo.

Harry unlocked the door and started hobbling down the corridor to his room but met Sirius halfway.

"Alright pup? I thought you were doing homework but when I went into your room, I didn't see a trace of ink or any sign of homework being done. Where have you been for the last half an hour? Are you ok Harry?" Sirius asked concern in his voice.

"Um – well – you see that I have just come out of the bathroom, I was just making my way back to my room to do it now" harry blurted out trying to sound convincing

"Alright then, as long as you are alright? You know Remus and I are always here for you don't you"

"Of course, Sirius"

"Alright then" and Sirius continued up the corridor obviously bewildered.

Dinner was as awkward as lunch, being deadly silent. Sirius and Remus were trying to ask Harry about his homework but he only gave one or two word answers and as before Harry escaped from dinner like lunch and went to bed early but the graveyard met him once more.

Note: Sirius and Remus have noticed a change in Harry, they do not know what it is yet. Leave a review, I'd love to hear your opinion. Thank you for reading once again.