Severus

He watched as Harry and George greeted each other. It was less hectic than when Harry and Fred had first seen each other, for which he was grateful. The two young men seemed to be enjoying themselves. He didn't want to ruin their moment, but he only had some much time before the Headmaster would notice his absence. He cleared his throat. Both animals looked at him.

"We have one last thing to do tonight before you two are free to terrorize the rest of the Manor," he said. The fox snickered, in a way that sounded almost human, causing chills to roll up Severus's spine. He sent Weasley a glare before scooping up both animals and walking out of his room.

It was stupid, what they had planned. Draco and Fred had come to him two nights ago and asked, no, begged to know if it was possible. He had told them no without even thinking about it. What they wanted was too dangerous, not with their Lord in the Manor. He thought that was the end of it.

Until late last night after he had taken Fred home. He'd been coming back inside the Manor and was pulled aside by Bartemuis. Lucius standing behind the smaller blonde with a frustrated look on his face.

He should have known Draco wouldn't let it go. His godson was too stubborn, too used to getting what he wanted to listen to a no. The little brat had gone, not to his father but Barty, knowing the man was the most likely to agree to his idiotic plan. And, of course, Barty had gone to Lucius for help.

In the end, he couldn't refuse to help. Though he did make it very clear that he thought this was a bad idea and that Lucius was taking all the blame if they got caught. His friend had just raised an unimpressed eyebrow as if he thought that Severus was overreacting.

As he knocked on Bartemius's bedroom door, he silently prayed that the others were right and that this wasn't going to backfire.

Harry

What could they possibly have left to do? He wondered as Severus carried him and George down a familiar hallway. He had already opened gifts, which were now tucked away in Draco's room. He'd already eaten dinner, twice, because he could. And now he had George to hang out with. He had no idea what the man could possibly think there was left to do, but Harry was in a great mood, so he didn't question it.

Which maybe wasn't his best idea.

Because soon enough, he found himself being let into Barty's bedroom. The man all but jumping up and down as he opened the door and greeted them. With his attention mostly on Barty, he almost missed the fact that Draco and his father were seated on a large couch that had never been in the room before. When he did notice them, he looked over at Draco, head tilted to the side, silently asking his friend, What the hell was going on?

To his annoyance, the blond just winked at him. Harry hissed at him, which got a snort, but not from the blond. Harry followed the noise back to Barty's bed. Then he spun his head around to make sure that George was still in Severus's arms with him because he couldn't be seeing what he thought he was seeing!

When their eyes met, the fox made a chuckling sound, and Harry quickly looked back at the bed.

By now, Fred was laughing as he lounged back on Barty's bed.

Heart racing, Harry looked towards Lucius and Barty. Neither man looked surprised, which he guessed made sense since Fred was in his human form laying on Barty's fucking bed.

Seriously what the hell were the twins thinking? This was a ridiculous, risky, and stupid idea. He turned his head and hissed at Severus. The man should have stopped this!

The man glared back at him, "you think this was my idea?" he asked, looking appalled, "because I assure you, Harry, I tried everything to stop this foolishness. But I was outvoted." Surprised, Harry watched as Severus sent a dirty look at Lucius. The blond just smirked.

Completely bewildered, Harry looked to Draco for an explanation.

"Did you really think we wouldn't find a way to celebrate Christmas with you?" his friend asked, smiling at him.

Which did nothing to help Harry understand, because hadn't they already celebrated Christmas? He'd even gotten gifts.

"Harry," Fred said softly, as he suddenly appeared at Severus's side, "as amusing as it is that a bunch of Death Eaters got you cat presents, you can't possibly believe that's all you're getting?"

Conflicted because that was, in fact, what he thought, Harry dropped his head.

He heard someone sigh before his head was tilted up towards Fred, "If I ever met your relatives, I'm going to skin them," his friend hissed angrily. Harry prayed the comment had been uttered quite enough none of the others heard. He didn't need the potentially lethal Death Eaters asking questions and his abusive relatives. He just didn't see that ending well at all.

Fred's face switched from pissed to happy in a second, "Now," the redhead said, grinning, "we're going to go into Barty's bathroom, and you are going to eat this," he waved one of the Canary Creams that had turned him human in front of his face, "and then we are going to have some fun."

He didn't even get to respond before he was pulled from Severus's arms. Fred kissed the top of his head before tucking him close and walking toward Barty's bathroom.

At least this plan seemed to be well thought out, he thought as they entered, and he saw there was a big pile of blankets on the bathroom floor, which he was gently set down on.

"Snape says that you were a little disoriented at first last time, so we put these down just in case." George's voice surprised him as he hadn't heard the other twin follow them in or seen him shift human.

He nodded his head because that was one word for what he had experienced last time. Some of his panic about what was happening washed away as he realized that he was going to get to be human again, even if it was only for an hour or so.

It felt easier this time. Eating the candy, having his body forcefully shift back into a human, and adjusting to being human again.

"You okay?" The twins asked together. They knelt on either side of him, George's fingers running through his hair. He wondered if it was a habit from when he was a cat. Then he shook his head to clear away the stupid. George hadn't spent enough time around cat him for there to be a habit; maybe it was just something George liked to do. Either way, he liked it, so he didn't tell his friend to stop.

He smiled up at his friends, "thank you." he said before pulling them into a hug, one right after the other.

They somehow ended up in a three-way hug that had Harry clinging to one of the redheads as tightly as he could while he cried into his friend's shoulder.

If asked, he couldn't tell anyone exactly what he was crying over. But it seemed in that moment, being human again and having two people he trusted above any others hold him was so comforting and safe that a dam broke inside him, and he stopped trying to hold himself together.

He didn't know how long they stood there holding each other, but eventually, they were broken apart by a knock on the bathroom door.

"If you three are done with your little reunion, we would like to get this party going." Severus snarked through the door, causing all three of them to chuckle. They broke apart, and Fred handed Harry a change of clothes as George muttered a series of cleaning and freshening charms over him.

He wished he could have showered but understood that they didn't have much time. He changed quickly and then let the twins drag him out of the bathroom.

None of the others looked like they knew he had just been crying, for which he was grateful.

He turned to look at Draco, a habit he had grown into since the blond had been home. Only to freeze. He was human now, at least for the next hour or so, did that change things. He knew Draco, and he had developed a strange friendship while he was a cat, but what happened now.

"Oh bloody hell," Draco muttered before he stood up and crossed the room. Harry tensed as the other boy approached, not sure what was about to happen, he let out a surprised gasp when he was pulled into another hug, "you're overthinking things, idiot," the blond whispered into his ear, and Harry's whole body relaxed as he hugged his friend back.

"My turn!" The shout surprised them both enough that they jumped apart. Then Harry was hugging Barty. The excitement and strangeness of the whole thing had him bursting out into laughter as he returned the hug. It felt good. Harry found himself not even bothered by the fact he was hugging a man that tried to have him killed last year.

After a second, Barty pulled away, grinned at him, and shoved a large box into his hands. It was wrapped in gold paper and tied with a red ribbon. He chuckled as he untied the ribbon and then ripped apart the paper.

When he opened the box, he had to look back up at the Death Eater to make sure this was meant for him. The man must have understood his look because he nodded his head, still grinning happily.

The black and silver fur blanket was almost the exact same as a smaller one that sat on the end of Barty's bed. Harry had found it in the first few days he had been stuck as a cat and accidentally fell asleep on it. With the blankets' warm and soft fur, it quickly became one of his favorite places to nap.

"Thank you," he said to the Death Eater as he folded the blanket back up and returned it to its box.

"Now, maybe you'll stop stealing mine." the man muttered, but he was smiling, and Harry knew for a fact Barty didn't mind him using his.

"Now ours!" The twins said excitedly, pushing some kind of crate-like box at him.

Harry hesitated, looking up at the twins. He was hoping he would be able to tell if opening this was a bad idea or not. He'd like to think they wouldn't prank him, at least not on Christmas, but this was the twins, and well, crates like this usually made him think of living, breathing things. Unfortunately, both twins just smiled bigger at him and waited, which told him nothing about what potentially dangerous thing could be inside the crate.

Carefully he pulled open the top of the crate and froze. At first, he thought the insane twins got him a whomping willow, like a tiny version of it. The tiny tree's branches were moving around, almost like they were swaying in the wind, and they froze in place when he let out a gasp. But as he was looking at the tree, he noticed buried amongst its deep green leaves was some kind of berries, something that the willow didn't have. He gave the twins a questioning look.

They laughed.

"It was an experiment," Fred started, "we wanted to make something Hogwarts students could have in the dorms. You know, for snacks in the middle of the night. Because teenagers are always almost hungry, and few are lucky enough to know where the kitchens are. Then we decided that the dorms could use a little living up. So we ummm," the redhead looked at his brother, who grinned.

"We used the whomping willow for inspiration. This little guy was supposed to smack anyone who tried to take his berries, anyone but his owner anyways," the redhead shrugged. Somehow Harry didn't think that was all the little tree did. He raised an eyebrow at George, who sighed and mumbled, "okay, maybe just maybe it was supposed to chuck fruit at students while they were sleeping."

Several people in the room chuckled or laughed.

"But?" Draco asked before Harry could.

Both twins frowned, "it's nice," they whined together, wrapping their arms around each other, letting out a dramatic sob.

Harry burst out laughing.

As the twins continued to fake cry against each other, Harry reached into the crate and carefully pulled out the tree. It wrapped a couple of branches around his wrists as if holding on, and when he set it on the floor, it let him go.

Curious, he reached forward and plucked one of the red berries. Praying the twins didn't have any surprises hidden in the small fruit, he popped it into his mouth and almost moaned out loud. It was chocolatey with just a hint of maybe strawberry? When nothing happened, he plucked a couple more and handed one to Draco and one to the blond's father knowing they would both like them. Both blonds seemed to hesitate, but then Draco shrugged and ate the berry.

Harry tried not to laugh at the surprised yet pleased face his friend made.

He had been so focused on Draco he missed Lucius eating the berry, but a few seconds later, the man spoke, "could you make more of those?" he asked politely, looking at the two redheads when the twins looked at him shocked, Harry swore the man wanted to roll his eyes.

"My wife would very much enjoy one, as would I'm sure Draco." The man gave a pointed look, and everyone turned to see Draco stealing another berry from the small tree.

Harry shouted, "Hey!" before lunging to smack his friend's hands away from his new plant. Draco just smirked and tossed one of the berries he had already taken into his mouth. Harry glared at him before picking up his little tree and turning to place it behind him. The only person behind him was Severus. He didn't think the Potion Master would steal any of the berries.

It took a second for everyone to stop laughing, and then Harry was handed a package from Lucius. It was soft and somewhat squishy. Truthfully he had no idea what the elder Malfoy would give him.

He was a little confused when he opened it and found a dark grey and black sweater. He pulled it out and found it was thick cotton, and when he put it on, it was long enough to cover his knees. While he may not have understood the odd gift, he was in heaven. It was so soft and warm, and he couldn't help but wrap it around himself as he sat back down.

Lucius chuckled softly, "my wife does the same thing." Harry blushed, feeling embarrassed, "she always says there is nothing better than a warm sweater and a good book," the man reached behind him and pulled at a leather book. The cover was a little worn, and Draco let out a strange gasp when he saw it. The book was held out to him, and Harry took it.

"Myths and Legends for Wizarding Children," he read the title out loud, giving the Death Eater a slightly confused look.

The man smiled, "it was Draco's favorite as a child. I know you did not grow up in our world and thought you might like to read them." Harry found himself nodding his head as he ran his hand over the cover of the book.

"Thank you," he whispered to the man, not able to look up. He didn't want anyone to see he was close to crying. This gift felt personal, despite its simplicity. It made him wonder if his parents would have read or told him stories like the ones he would find inside. He felt someone slide onto the floor next to him and smiled when Fred wrapped an arm around him, the redhead resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.

They stayed like that.

Next, Draco, who looked embarrassed, handed him his gift. The box was small and fit easily into his hand. Harry grinned at his friend as he pulled apart the green wrapping paper. Then he opened the small box. Inside was a bracelet. Harry pulled it out and felt the smooth silver metal hummed under his fingers. The band was only about an inch or so thick, but all along it were tiny dragons flying around. With magic's help, their wings and heads moved, and as Harry watched, one of the dragons blew a dark gray smoke cloud out that faded almost instantly.

"It's got some protection charms on it," Draco said suddenly, and Harry's head snapped up. He hadn't realized he was zoning out while watching the dragons move around.

"It's awesome." He said, reaching up to pull Draco down and into a hug. The other teen squeaked but returned the hug. Then he pulled himself away, straightened his clothes, and returned to sitting by his father. Harry tried not to laugh as he heard Fred snort in his ear. He hit the redhead's knee, silently telling him to be nice.

He put the bracelet back in its box and placed it on top of the one from Barty. The room fell silent for a moment, and Harry wondered if they were done with the gift-giving. It made him feel bad that he hadn't gotten anyone anything. Not that he could have, but still, it felt strange for them to be giving him such lovely and meaningful gifts while he couldn't give them anything in return.

"Oooooh," Fred and George drew out the word, "we got one!" they said, and George made a show of digging around into his robe and pant's pockets before he pulled out a blue box. He grinned at Harry as he tossed it to him.

Harry caught it easily enough and then looked at George in surprise.

George just shrugged, and he felt Fred snicker.

Harry looked down at the box, trying to understand how he felt about it. He hadn't known the twins had told their brothers about him. But from the sticker on the top, "From Bill & Charlie," it was clear they had. He trusted the twins, so he knew if the two older Weasley were giving him a gift, they were on his side.

Not wanting to take forever, he unwrapped and opened the small box.

Inside were two black dragons. They were kinda small, longish, maybe even a little delicate, and truthfully Harry didn't know what they were for.

Someone let out an exaggerated sigh; Harry looked up to see it had been Draco.

"They're earrings, Potter," his friend said with a slow eye roll. Harry rolled his own eyes and picked up one of the Dragons. Of course, Draco had been right. At the base of its tail, there was a piece of an earring that went into one's ear.

Harry had no idea how one was supposed to wear the damn thing. His relatives had refused to allow him or Dudley to get their ears pierced when Dudley had demanded it after a friend of his had gotten one. His aunt had thrown a fit and forbade him from hanging out with that friend ever again. That, of course, only lasted a day before Dudley had screamed, cried, and begged his way back into the friendship. While she had caved on the friend, she stood her ground about the piercing.

Harry hadn't been too disappointed. He hadn't ever thought about getting his ears pierced. Only agreed and asked because Dudley threatened him. Sure he had thought Charlie's was awesome but hadn't wanted one of his own. Meaning he never paid attention to others' earrings, girls or boys.

He turned his head to Fred and handed the older boy the earring. Fred, who had copied his older brother and had gotten his own ears pierced, quickly shifted so he could take the earring. Then with ease, he took the back off and stuck the metal bit onto his ear. He twisted the long dragon around until the dragon itself looked like it was crawling up his ear, it's head laying, so it hung over the top of Fred's ear. Then he turned his head to show off the earring to the rest of the room.

George, Barty, and Draco chuckled, but Harry found himself reaching out to trace the earring. It looked wicked wrapped around Fred's ear, and Harry couldn't help but wonder what it would look like on him.

"We can worry about piercing your ears later, Harry," Severus muttered sarcastically from behind him. Harry jumped. He'd forgotten the silent man was there. With a nod of his head, Harry went to close the box. But saw a small piece of paper folded up under the second earring. He pulled the second earring out and tossed it to George, figuring the twin would like to wear it for a little, and grabbed the paper.

Harry,

Not sure if you have your ears pierced. Sorry about that. If you don't, it's okay. Take the earring and say, mutatio, it will cause the earring piece to disappear and then say, activus. It will activate the dragon to move and wrap itself around your ear. No holes needed!

Now for the best part. These little guys are spelled to talk to each other. Bill calls them secret whisperers. They aren't perfect and can only do short sentences, but if you wear one and give another to a friend, you can whisper back and forth, and no one else will ever know!

Hope you like them,

Charlie.

Harry,

What my idiot brother forgot to tell you is the dragons are also charmed with Notice-me-not, repealing, and protective charms. Once on, no one but those aware of the earrings will be able to see them. Even those won't be able to hear what the dragons say. That charm is for the two people wearing them only.

The repealing charm is based on one that keeps muggles from seeing or coming near wizarding places. I've tweaked it enough that it will keep wizards and muggles alike from noticing or picking up the dragons. That way, if you leave one sitting out somewhere, no one will be able to steal them. It will leave anyone who tries sick to their stomach and possibly with a headache.

Because of their size, the protective charms aren't much, but if there is a spell, potion, or person with ill intentions around you (or whoever is wearing them), they'll warm up, and if it's dangerous enough, the dragon's claws will scratch your ear. Not enough to hurt you, but they will get your attention.

Also, Charlie won't admit it, but he designed and formed these himself.

I'm sorry for what is happening to you. Just know that you have us when you need us.

Happy Christmas,

Bill

Holy crap, he thought as he clenched his fingers around the piece of paper and looked at Fred. The older boy gave him a confused look. Harry was excited to see if the earrings worked. He leaned in and whispered, "tell the dragon, George's sweater is ugly."

Fred snickered and whispered precisely that to the small black dragon. It took less than a second for George to squeak out in surprise and fall off the bed he had been sitting on the edge,

"The hell?" the redhead whispered from the floor.

Harry started laughing, handing the note to the first person who reached for it.

Turns out it was Severus, who, after reading it, glared at every student in the room, "These will not be worn inside my classroom, is that understood?" They all nodded, even Draco, who clearly had no idea why not.

The blond snatched the paper from the Potion Master's hand. Once he read it, he handed it off to Barty before walking over to George and stealing the one that redhead had.

The room fell into chaos once Barty had read about the earrings and demanded to try one. Soon, everyone except for Severus and Lucius was trying on the earrings and whispering back and forth to each other. Harry was having so much fun that he hadn't noticed he was digging his nails into arms until Severus smacked his hand away.

He looked down and noticed he had scratched ugly red marks into his skin.

He frowned.

The potion that made him human was wearing off.

Suddenly his good mood was gone.

Severus gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before he pulled out his wand. With a flick, everyone was quiet.

"Time is running out," Severus said with a look at Harry, who covered his irritated skin with his hand.

"I do believe Severus," Lucius said, breaking the awkward silence the room had fallen into, "it is your turn."

Harry looked at the Potion Master, who had gone a little pale. The dark-haired man reached into his robe and pulled something out. The man looked at whatever was in his hand before he seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts. Then surprising everyone in the room, he knelt in front of Harry.

"As you know. Your mother was my best friend." Harry found himself nodding even if he didn't think it was necessary. "In our 15th summer, we spent a fair amount of time in muggle London. One day, we came across a jewelry shop. Where Lily found a ring in the window, she swore it was made just for her. She was so excited that she ran into the store, startling the man working there." the man smiled at the memory, "After trying on the ring and falling in love with it, she found out she didn't have enough money saved up to buy it. I offered at the time to help, but she refused. She was stubborn and didn't want to take my money from me." Severus let out a slow breath, looking at Harry to explain, "she knew how hard it was for me to save up money. She didn't want to take what I did have away from me in case I needed it." he shook his head and muttered, almost like he was talking to himself, "she was so heartbroken leaving it behind."

The Potion Master stopped for a second, seemingly gathering his thoughts before he smiled at Harry and continued his story, "It took me a month to earn the entire amount needed to purchase the ring. The whole time I worried that it would have been sold off before I saved up enough. Thankfully, when I went back, it was still there." his smile fell, "I had bought it thinking of giving it to her for Christmas. But life that year seemed to be doing its best to break our friendship apart. We fought, and in a fit of anger, Lily went home for the holidays. I wasn't able to give it to her until her birthday, two months later." Severus hesitated, before looking down and away from Harry, "It was the last gift I ever gave her." the man said, and Harry felt like he couldn't breathe.

Severus reached out and took his hand. Harry opened it and watched as a single ring was dropped into his hand. It was a silver band with tiny pink lilies etched into it, well pink except for one bright red one.

"She wore it on her thumb," the man said softly, "even after we stopped talking, she continued to wear it. It always gave me hope that we would one day be able to fix things between us."

Harry ran his finger over the red lily.

Severus snorted when he noticed where Harry's attention was, "Your father and Black played a prank. Potter wanted to turn all the Lilies red, told your mother it was so she would be reminded of him whenever she wore it." Harry could hear some amusement in the older man's voice, "However, the spell misfired, and only one lily changed. Your mother liked it. Said it fit your father perfectly, she decided to keep it that way."

Harry heard the words, even registered them. But his mind kept going over the fact that he was holding something of his mother's. He didn't have much to remember his parents by, his father's cloak, Hagrid's album, and the Marauder's map. This was the first time he ever had anything that had belonged to his mom instead of his father.

"Harry," Severus said softly, pulling his attention away from the ring. When he looked up, the man held a thin silver chain; hanging from it were two more rings.

"What are those?" he asked as he slipped his mother's ring onto his middle finger.

The Potion Master got that pale look again, and his hand shook a little as Harry took the chain away from him to look at it and the rings over.

"These are your parents' wedding rings." The man said quietly. Harry couldn't stop the surprised gasp that came out. Their wedding rings? How? He'd been told that everything his parents had, had been destroyed in Voldemort's attack. The only reason he had gotten the cloak or map was that they hadn't been at Godric's Hollow that night.

A burst of irritation and tingling spread through his arms, and Harry almost dropped his parent's rings in surprise.

No, he thought, please not yet.

"I thought they were gone? Destroyed? The Headmaster said everything was gone." he rambled in a rush, suddenly very aware that his time was running out.

"No." The man replied coldly, "when the battle was over, the wizarding world went a little mad celebrating the Dark Lord's defeat. Godric's Hollow after your parent's bodies had been removed and been left alone. The only attention it got from the Ministry was the desire to make it into a monument." The man growled out, a monument like it was the foulest thing he'd ever heard, "I snuck in a few days after, I just wanted something to remember your mother by." Severus let out a long breath, "the cottage was a mess, broken glass and upturned furniture, to this day I do not know if it was from the fight or from people rummaging through their things." Severus sounded angry at the very thought of other people going through the Potter's things. Harry understood it. He felt the same way. How could people do that to people that called friends?

"I ended up in your parent's room where I found your mother's jewelry box." The words pulled him out of his upsetting thoughts. "I had hoped for just the ring I had given her, but inside I found her wedding ring next to it."

Harry's chin was forced up; he hadn't noticed when his attention had drifted from the man and to the rings in his hands, nor had he felt Severus' fingers touch him until his chin was being moved.

The man gave him a small smile, "I found myself unable to leave either ring. Then as I was leaving the room, I noticed your father's band on the nightstand. I knew without a doubt Lily would never have forgiven me if I had taken hers and not his, not when I had already decided to give it to you someday."

Harry had so many questions. Why had the Headmaster told him they were gone when he had asked about them in his first year? How could they have been inside the cottage? Why weren't his parents wearing them? He opened his mouth to try and voice them, but pain hit him in the stomach so strange he doubled over.

He cried out in pain.

Arms wrapped around him from both sides, "shhh," one of the twins whispered, "We got you." the other said. They held him for a few moments until the pain died down a little.

"Harry, you don't have long. I know you have questions," Severus said from where he still knelt in front of him. Harry didn't look away from the chest he was pressing his face against. "But the twins have a couple more gifts for you. We need to hurry." Harry nodded and pushed George away enough he could look around the room.

Draco looked pale and must have risen to his feet at some point to come over to help him, but the teen's father had grabbed his wrist to stop him. Lucius himself was giving Harry a sad look that had him looking away as fast as he could. Barty, who had been frowning, was the first to move.

"Let's get him on the bed." the Death Eater suggested to the twins. Who didn't hesitate, they found their feet and pulled Harry to his. They half dragged half carried him to the bed where they sat him back against the headboard. Both then tucked themselves against his sides, then without any kind of warning, Fred pulled out a small mirror and held it in front of Harry.

Before he could say something about how he did not want to know what a disaster he looked like right now, George muttered Sirius's name, and the mirror came alive.

Harry found himself looking at his Godfather's grinning face; Remus squished in next to him.

"HARRY!" Sirius shouted the second the older man saw him. Remus's greeting was quieter but just as happy. Harry almost sobbed at the happiness that shot through him when he saw them. "Sirius! Remus!" he cried out, "How are you guys? Are you safe?"

Remus chuckled, "only you would ask us if we are okay, cub when you are the one that's been through hell." Harry's cheeks reddened a little.

"Are you okay, pup? How's it hanging out with my cousin? She's scary, huh? And I'm not talking about Bella," the man barked out a laugh at the affronted noise Draco let out. Harry didn't know that Draco's mom and Sirius were related. He'd have to ask about that later when he had time.

"I'm good," he said; neither man looked like they believed him. Forcing himself to smile, he tried to ignore the sadness and longing he felt; also the itching and tingly that was spreading through him.

"I got presents!" he shouted out suddenly, startling those around him. Instead of the smiles he was hoping for, both men frowned, and Remus opened his mouth to say something; not wanting to let the wolf ask, Harry started rambling about what he got from everyone, including the cat toys he'd gotten from the Death Eaters.

The distraction seemed to work as Sirius and Remus started smiling and joking about the gifts with him. They only got to talk for a few more minutes before the tingly got so bad, Harry was having a hard time holding the mirror. He tried to ignore it. He tried to push past the uncomfortable pain that started to wash over him in waves. He didn't want to stop talking to his Godfather or Moony. He'd missed them so much. He just wanted a little more time.

"Harry." someone in the room said gently. He shook his head and started to ask Siri about what he was doing about proving his innocence.

He didn't hear the answer as he was too busy wincing from the pain as it intensified.

"Harry." A different, softer voice said. He felt the bed dip as whoever it was sat down at his feet. Again he shook his head, his vision blurring from both tears and the potion wearing off.

A hand touched his leg, and he looked up at Draco as the blond rubbed his leg up and down, trying to comfort him.

"No!" He shouted. It came out wrong as his vocal cords started to shift, "I don't want to!" Pain surged through him, and Harry found himself pulling free of his friends as he tried to tuck himself into a ball.

"I'm not-ready." He hissed out through clenched teeth. The words hurt to say, it was like he'd swallowed glass, and every word he said ripped and tore as he forced it out. He was sweating and shaking, and it hurt worse than the other times he'd been forced to change.

"Pup! Stop!" his godfather shouted from the mirror. The man's fear and panic breaking through some of Harry's despair and pain. One of the twins held up the mirror, and Harry saw Sirius and Remus's horrified faces, both men on the brink of tears.

"You have to stop fighting the change, kiddo," Sirius said when he saw Harry was paying attention to him. Harry shook his head no.

His godfather sighed, "Harry, Snape is close to figuring out a counter; you just have to hang on a little while longer. Can you do that?" He wanted to say no, that he was sick of being a cat. Sick of feeling trapped all the time. Instead, he nodded his head and watched as relief flooded through the two men in the mirror.

"It'll be okay, Harry," Remus said. Sirius nodded his head in agreement, then added, "We love you, kiddo."

He tried to relax, to stop fighting the change, but it felt impossible, not after admitting that he didn't want to change again. He felt the twins move closer, both wrapping their arms around him. He even felt Draco shift, so he was as close as he could get. His friends' support helped, and eventually, he felt a quick blast of uncomfortableness before his body changed, and he passed out.