Harry woke up after another night of restless sleep. After a year of having Voldemort mess with his sleep, he was used to functioning on little sleep. That wasn't the problem. No, the issue was the content of the nightmares this time around. The previous summer he'd been dreaming about the graveyard and Cedric every night, to the point that even Dudley had noticed. Harry realized that he probably preferred those dreams, as bad as they were. At least he was not fully responsible for what had happened then. Now, however… Night after night he saw Hermione get hit by that purple fire, unable to do anything about it but look away, only to see Sirius disappear into the Veil. Some nights he'd see Sirius go first, to then hear the St. Mungo's healers explain how they had been too late to save Hermione.
Harry opened his eyes and turned over to look at Ron's bed. It was already empty, like every other morning this week. The sun was beaming its rays through the haphazardly opened curtains. He could hear Mrs Weasley going through the kitchen, probably cleaning up after breakfast. A week had passed since Harry, Ron and Ginny had come back to the Burrow. The memories of the memorial and the funeral were hazy like he'd been in a daze during them. Considering the way he had been on auto-pilot during those days that did not surprise him. The one thing he remembered clearly was the discussion with Hermione's parents. One reason he remembered was because he had tried to say how sorry he was and that it was all his fault. Apparently, somebody, Dumbledore most likely, had already explained to them what happened. They had assured him that they did not blame him, but Harry had an awful feeling that they just didn't understand how stupid he had been. How could they? Harry had no idea how much Hermione had kept them in the loop of what was happening or how acquainted her parents had become with magic. Another reason was the cat currently looking at him from the window sill. They had decided that as Crookshanks was part-kneazel and thus magical, he'd stay with Ginny from now on instead of in the muggle world with Hermione's parents.
Crookshanks stared at him unwaveringly. It kind of unnerved Harry, like the cat was judging his behaviour. Turning away from him, Harry got up and pulled on some clothes, and went about his morning ablutions. Slowly making his way downstairs, he paused on the bottom landing. Every morning he had to make this decision: continue into the kitchen and be confronted with Ron, Ginny, and Mr and Mrs Weasley or slip out the backdoor and make his way to the trees surrounding the pond. Most days he chose the latter, only trying for breakfast if the previous days of eating little had caught up with him. This morning was no different, so Harry slipped out of the backdoor quietly.
The sun hit his face, bathing him in its warm rays. Harry supposed he was lucky that the weather had been good the last couple of days. He rather not think about being cooped up indoors all day. Especially having promised Dumbledore that he would not step out of the protective wards surrounding the Burrow for any reason whatsoever. Not until the Headmaster would come to collect Harry to bring him over to Little Whinging for his mandatory week with the Dursleys. It was important to keep the protection given to Harry by Lilly's sacrifice as long as possible. Harry was beginning to look forward to it. The Dursleys wouldn't care at all about what happened, and they'd be happy if Harry avoided them.
Harry now understood Lily Potter's death truly had been a sacrifice. As if losing his best friend and his Godfather in the same night had not been enough, he was also finally encumbered with the why of it all. Dumbledore had told him the prophecy in his office, directly after the battle. Voldemort had come specifically to kill Harry that Halloween night. They were prophesized to kill each other, even if Voldemort did not know about that part.
Harry sat down with his back against a tree, pulling his knees up and dropping his head on his arms. This was the position he spend most days in. Listening while the wind rustled the leaves of the trees around him. Feeling the sun on his skin and hearing the soft indistinct noises of life going on around him. With closed eyes and in an upright foetal position he sat, willing himself to not think about it all but failing miserably.
"Harry?" a soft voice said, startling Harry. He jumped up, grabbing for his wand only to realize he didn't have it with him. Scolding himself for dozing off and being so out of it he had actually forgotten his wand, he looked up to see Remus Lupin looking at him with a sad smile.
"Remus," Harry greeted softly, "what are you doing here?" He took a second look at Remus. His old Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was looking particularly shabby and tired. "Are you all right?" Harry asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," Remus noted. He hesitated. "Molly has been sending owls," he admitted. "She's of the opinion that I should not be alone right now. And … she also thinks you've not been doing so well."
Harry did not look at him, not wanting to see the emotion on the man's face. "I'm just dealing with it all," he said with a shrug, scowling at a tree.
"Are you? Dealing? Because to be honest, I'd be surprised if you were," Remus said. "I mean … I keep waiting for Padfoot to come around and announce it has been a prank this whole time."
Harry did look up at this. Memories of Sirius and Remus entertaining Harry with stories about the Marauders' most hilarious pranks shooting through his mind. Immediately, an overwhelming surge of mixed emotion rose up inside of him. Guilt and self-loathing, grief and anger.
It must've shown on his face because Remus immediately reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't!" Harry snapped while flinching backwards. "I don't want to hear about how it isn't my fucking fault they're dead! Because it is! If I hadn't been so stupid, if I had just realized that Snape did get my message, if I had just insisted that I go alone then-"
"Then you'd have died that night," Remus interrupted. "Is that what you would have preferred?"
"I'm marked for death anyway! Does it really matter when it happens?" Harry retorted angrily.
Remus looked pained but also slightly puzzled. "What do you... Are you talking about the prophecy? Did Dumbledore finally tell you the prophecy?"
"What do you mean 'finally'? You mean you knew?" Harry immediately countered. "Why does everyone always know things about me that I don't? First, it was this connection I share with Voldemort, then it was you thinking I might be possessed by him, then it was the exact reason why I needed to learn Occlumency, and to top it off you already knew the prophecy!" Harry had worked up quite a bit of steam at this point. "I mean, I spent the first eleven fucking years of my life being told not to ask questions, so if you don't tell me anything I'll never know anything!" He started as he realized what he said, that he had let that last part slip in his anger and turned away.
Remus did not respond immediately. He merely walked up to Harry and wrapped his arms around him from behind. Harry tried to shrug him off but Remus held on. "I'm so sorry Harry. Even if it is your fault, like you've been trying very hard to convince me and yourself of, I'd still not be angry with you. Do you know why? Many people, both older and wiser than you, have been manipulated by Voldemort. This connection you have only made it easier for him to do so. Do you know when I would have been angry with you? On a pure egotistical level? If Voldemort actually did kidnap Sirius and you had done nothing about it! I understand that you're angry at everything and everyone and completely overrun by grief at the same time. Please remember that you're not alone in that"
Harry finally shrugged himself free and started walking back to the Burrow . "Can we please talk about something else?" he said curtly, "I've been trying to not think about it."
"Ah," Remus responded, obviously reluctant to let the subject slide. "Well, er… I'm staying at the Burrow for the next two weeks until you go to the Dursleys. So please feel free to talk to me if you do want to talk about it."
Harry didn't respond and they continued their short walk back in silence. As Harry entered the kitchen, Mrs Weasley looked up from where she was applying an anti-scarring potion on Ron's arms. This was maybe the biggest reason why Harry avoided the other inhabitants of the Burrow. Every time he saw the red lines from where the brain had latched itself onto Ron, he felt the familiar mix of emotions that had only just managed to suppress after his talk with Remus.
"Good morning, Harry, we just finished breakfast but if you feel up to eating anything I'll gladly make you something!" Mrs Weasley said with a smile. Harry's stomach protested the very idea of food so he politely declined and excused himself. He felt Ron's eyes follow his escape. While ascending the first flight of stairs, he could hear the faint voices of Remus and Mrs Weasley talking, discussing him. With an angry huff, he retreated to Ron's bedroom.
-In Her Memory-
A couple of days later, after having come to the conclusion that his strategy of self-isolation was not working, Harry was flying around the Weasley's Quidditch pitch. Flying had always been his escape from troubles that took place on the ground. After having been banned for two of the three matches last year, it felt good to finally be up in the air again. It also was important to concentrate on flying, and not let your mind wander on the "what ifs," lest you end up in one of the fruit trees. There was also the added distraction in the form of Ginny, with whom Harry had not flown before. He'd only seen her play seeker in one full match last year, but even here in the less-than-favourable conditions and with the old and worn-out quaffle, Harry could see that she really was a chaser rather than a seeker. A really good chaser actually and not just because Ron played keeper. Ron's problem was nerves, but here at the Burrow, without an audience, he was a decent player.
When Remus joined them they played two against two, both teams having a keeper and field player. If Remus did not feel up to playing, which was most of the time as he preferred to read, they played games of rotating quidditch. One player played as keeper, one as a defensive field player, and one as an offensive field player. After every attempt to score a goal, they would rotate. The first person to score 10 goals would win. For Harry, this had the added bonus that he got to play both chaser and keeper, positions with which he had no real experience. While these games were fun, they were eagerly waiting for Fred and George to come around during the weekend, which they had promised to do.
Harry had not seen them since the memorial, as they had been very busy preparing their shop for the grand opening on August first. Who he had seen was Bill. He had come by the Burrow with Fleur Delacour, the former Tri-Wizard Champion for Beauxbatons, to announce they were engaged. Harry had no idea they had been dating and was quite sure that Ron didn't either, judging by his shocked face during the entirety of the announcement dinner. However, this could also just be Ron's normal reaction to seeing the Veela, who he had asked to the Yule Ball in a fit of self-proclaimed insanity. While Harry might still be stuck in his own head most of the time, even he could not miss Mrs Weasley and Ginny's reactions to Fleur. Even though he couldn't understand why, it was clear to them that they did not approve of Bill's French fiancée.
"Hey, Potter! Watch out where you're going!"
Harry shook his head to clear away his contemplative state and noticed he had almost drifted into the canopy of the trees surrounding the pitch. He looked up to see Ginny speeding past him and scoring a simple goal.
"Come on you two," she called out while smirking, "at least try to give me a challenge!" Maybe it was because of the comparatively very small amount of people at the Burrow each day, with the twins now living in Diagon Alley but he had never had so much contact with Ginny. Come to think of it, he could count the number of real conversations he had with her on one hand. There was last Christmas when he had been the biggest prat and she forced him to pull his head out of his ass, and that time they planned Harry's break-in of Umbridge's office which resulted in them being chased out of the library for eating chocolate eggs.
"Oh, you want a challenge you say?" he called back.
"Yes, that would be a nice change of pace! If you keep this up, you'll never make the team next year! Even if you are captain, you'd probably have to bench yourself!" she shot back.
"Hey, shut up Ginny!" Ron growled, "Don't you go at him like that!" Ron flew forward while Ginny took over the Keeper position. Harry flew down to get the quaffle, which had fallen after Ginny had scored her goal. While flying back up, he came up with a game plan. While Ron had gotten a new broom last year, it had nothing on Harry's Firebolt. If he could goad him further away from the goal, he would be able to simply speed past him. He could then swerve while rushing towards the hoop and fire at the goal. If he had enough speed, his aim didn't have to be that accurate while throwing.
Taking his position opposite Ron, Harry began making small feints to the left and the right. Each time Ron moved to intercept a possible run, he moved slightly further away from the goal. After a couple of feints, Harry moved forward changing direction twice in quick succession. The resulting zigzag sent Ron to the left while Harry sped past him on the right side. Between Ron having to turn and the Firebolt's superior speed, Harry had enough space to shoot in an instance. He flew straight for the hoop and Ginny.
Ginny was flying a bit to the right, which struck Harry as strange. Surely she knew she wasn't in the centre, she was too good a player for such a mistake. Speeding towards the hoop, Harry aimed at the left side. The power behind his throw was lacking, but the speed with which he was moving made up for it, even if his aim was off. What he did not expect, however, was for Ginny to lunge towards the side like she knew which side he was going to aim at.
Without much problem, she got a hand behind the quaffle and knocked it away.
"How the hell did you get that," Ron demanded, "You weren't even flying in the centre!"
"Yeah, I even aimed at the side you weren't defending!" Harry added. Ginny's smile turned smug at their exclamations.
"That's what they call strategy. See, my dives to the right are way better, and I'm right-handed."
"So?" Harry answered.
"So, she purposefully moved to her left, to protect her weaker side, while simultaneously baiting you into aiming at her good side" a voice called from the ground. The three players looked down to see Remus watching them.
"Yes! Exactly! I didn't know you knew anything about Quidditch!" Ginny answered enthusiastically, while Ron exclaimed "Oh, of course!".
"Well," Remus called back, "you cannot spend seven in years in a dormitory with James and Sirius and not pick up on Quidditch strategies, even if you don't play yourself." At the mention of Prongs and Padfoot, his smile wavered.
Harry had also stiffened at the mention of Sirius and he felt anger swell. The next play saw Ron as the attacker, while Ginny defended and Harry played keeper. Ginny managed to force Ron to fly too much to the left of the goal. The angle to the goal had become too small and he missed his shot.
Harry flew forward to take the defensive position, while Ginny retrieved the quaffle. While cruising past him to her starting position, she looked at him and said: "Weren't you going to give me a challenge, Potter?" While Harry had enjoyed her teasing earlier, his mood had darkened significantly since and her challenge did not improve it. Scowling, he watched her closely to see what she would do.
Ginny had a great shot, so Harry's best tactic was to copy her defensive manoeuvre against Ron and force her to the sides of the pitch. That was easier said than done. Ginny flew right at him, forcing Harry to either wait or guess which side she would choose to pass him on. Just when he thought she would swerve to her right, Ginny lopped the quaffle over him while diving underneath him herself. The second it took for him to decide whether to follow the quaffle or Ginny was enough for her to have enough space to make a safe catch.
Harry spun around as quickly as he could and sped after her. He caught up with her quite easily but his simmering anger in combination with the excitement of flying and the annoyance with her teasing made him miscalculate his speed. The bump he had meant to give her was much too forceful. Because he came from behind, the impact forced her forward. The sudden change of direction, speed, and acceleration proved too much for her old broom and she lost control of it. She overshot the hoop and crashed straight into a nearby apple tree.
"Harry, what the bloody hell are you doing!" Ron bellowed while Remus ran towards the tree.
"Fuck Ginny, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Harry cried, speeding towards the apple tree himself. He moved some branches away so he could see into the canopy, only to see Ginny scowling at him.
"What the hell is your problem, Potter?" she demanded.
"I… I'm... er. Sorry, I didn't do it on purpose! It was an accident!" Harry stammered his apology.
"I know you hate yourself, but don't take it out on us!" Ginny bit back, giving him a two-fingered salute and began climbing down. Remus waited at the bottom of the tree, wand ready to heal. She had some small superficial scratches, luckily nothing a good Episkey wouldn't fix. However, when she went to walk back to the Burrow, she let out a small squeak of pain when she put her left foot on the uneven ground. The same ankle she had broken during the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. Ron quickly moved to support her on that side.
"Take her back to the house, Ron," Remus urged, "I can't heal bones." He added something in a low voice that Harry couldn't quite hear. They watched as brother and sister walked back towards the house.
"You are so much like James," Remus called out to Harry. Harry, who had expected to be berated for his reckless flying, landed with a frown. "James could be incredibly stubborn, especially when it came to talking about emotions." Remus continued. "You had to wait for him to come to you to discuss something, forcing the issue never worked. I remember when his parents, your grandparents, died. It took him about a week to open up to your mother." Remus put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "We can all see you're struggling. That's perfectly normal. Ron and Ginny are as well. Just remember that I am, that we are, here for you when you need us.." He squeezed Harry's shoulder and made to walk back to the house. "In the meantime, try not to do anything too reckless." he added over his shoulder, "You are, after all, also Lily's son!"
"Remus," Harry called hesitatingly. He didn't know if he wanted to talk about it all just yet. But he also couldn't let any more accidents like that happen. Remus waited patiently for him to continue.
"I... I'm not … not quite ready." Harry murmured, "but I promise I will come to you when I am.." Something that Remus had suddenly occurred to him. "Wait, did you know my grandparents, my father's parents?"
Remus nodded with a smile. "Yes, I knew them. I gather you've never asked after them?" He frowned, "I guess we didn't talk about them last year, apart from how they took in Sirius after he ran away from home. I imagine you'd be interested to learn about them?"
"Yeah," Harry agreed, "I mean I guess they must have died before my parents did? But apart from that, I don't know anything about them." With a puzzled expression, he added, mostly to himself: "although I think I might have seen them somewhere…."
"I was actually planning to talk to you about the Potter estate after you'd return from the Dursleys and before I have to… leave… at the end of August."
"You're leaving?" Harry shot up, "Where are you going?"
Remus had a distinctly unpleasant expression on his face. "Professor Dumbledore asked me to go undercover with the werewolf packs, to try to win them over to our side. As I am the only one capable of doing so, I see no reason to refuse. I only asked for some time to make sure you were alright, which he wholeheartedly agreed with."
"But you don't want to?" Harry prodded.
"No, but everyone has to sometimes do things they'd rather not. It's like that saying that Professor Dumbledore is so fond of: Sometimes you have to choose between what is easy and what is right. I'm going to do what is right." he concluded with finality. "Now, let's walk back to the garden and I'll tell you about your grandparents."
While Harry really wanted to know more about the werewolf packs, it would be hypocritical to make Remus talk about something he obviously didn't want to talk about. Together they walked to the garden but before they took a seat, Harry said he wanted to make sure Ginny was okay first.
-In Her Memory-
Mrs Weasley had given Ginny a small dose of Skele-Gro, just to be sure, and after apologizing profusely for reckless flying to all three Weasley present, Harry made his way back to the garden. Remus was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. He looked up as Harry approached.
"Ginny will be okay," he told the older man. "Did you say you had planned to talk to me about the Potter Estate? What is that?"
"Yes, there are some issues to be resolved related to your inheritance, some of which Professor Dumbledore will talk to you about, some of which I will handle with you," Remus replied.
"Inheritance?" Harry inquired.
"Yes, as far as we know you are the last Potter left. I remember Hagrid telling me about your reaction to seeing your vault for the first time, he said you were quite shocked," Remus said, laughing. "However, as Sirius was your godfather and he did not have heirs of his own, well, as far as we know at least, he designated you as his heir. However, Professor Dumbledore thinks it likely that the House of Black put a hex on the family name, enforcing that only pure-bloods can inherit Black property."
Harry could very well envision the Blacks doing that. "But wasn't Sirius disinherited after running away? How could he have inherited it in the first place?" he asked.
Remus looked thoughtful, "As I said, there are some issues with that inheritance, which is why Professor Dumbledore will talk to you about it rather than me. He has a far better understanding of the complexity of inheritance magic than I do. I only know that the present situation might lead to different heirs: a legal heir and a magical heir. Luckily, the Potter inheritance is straightforward. Like I said, as far as we know you are the last living Potter, so you'll inherit the entire Potter estate when you turn seventeen."
Frowning, Harry said: "What does that mean exactly? That I'll 'inherit the entire Potter estate'?"
"An estate is basically everything that is owned by someone, like money, buildings, and stocks. I'm not completely sure how James and Lily set up their vaults, but you have already seen some of that wealth of course. Things like stocks cannot be inherited until you turn seventeen. You also do not have access to the main Potter vaults, as the keys to those vaults can also only be inherited by adults."
Harry swallowed at the idea of getting even richer than he already was. "And … and do we, er do I make a lot of money from those stocks?" he asked hesitantly.
Remus smiled at Harry's reluctance to accept his apparent wealth. "I'm not sure, James and Lily never talked about it to me, and almost 15 years have gone by. What I can tell you is which stocks you should have and to answer that question, we have to talk about your family history first. You see, the Potter family has always had an affinity for potion making."
"Potions, really?" Harry said, surprised. Remus laughed again.
"Yes, really. I remember James telling us about how the surname 'Potter' came from a forefather, who provided potions to his muggle neighbours. I can't remember his name, but he came to be known as "The Potterer."
"So the Potter wealth was made through potions?" Harry concluded. He wondered how he could be so bad at potions if he apparently came from a long line of potion masters.
His confusion must have shown on his face, as Remus said: "If you're wondering why you don't seem to have inherited those potion skills, I'll tell you that James himself didn't either. Yes, even if James had inherited or learned Fleamont's potion skills, he never had the patience for potion brewing. Your mother, on the other hand, was a natural. You can imagine she was an instant hit with your grandfather."
"Wait, Fleamont?" Harry interrupted incredulously. "That's my grandfather's name, Fleamont?"
"Yes. Apparently, your great-grandmother came from the "Fleamont" family. James said it was her dying wish to prevent her maiden name from dying out so she convinced her husband, your great-grandfather Henry, to name their son "Fleamont." It was also James' middle name, which in turn is the only reason I know this story because Sirius used to tease him mercilessly for it when we found out."
Harry snorted. "I can imagine!" That was totally something that Sirius would do, he thought, both fondly and sadly.
"Fleamont Potter is actually the one responsible for most of your wealth," Remus continued his story. "Beside potion skills, the other thing that Potter men have inherited throughout the century is a mop of unruly black hair. Fleamont developed a hair potion to try to tame it. It's called 'Sleekeazy's Hair Potion', I believe it still quite popular?"
"Yes!" Harry recognized the name. It somehow reminded him of the Yule Ball, but he wasn't sure why or why it seemed to be a sad memory. He shook himself and refocused on Remus.
"Fleamont started Sleekeazy to sell his hair potion and sold the majority of the business when he retired. A couple of years after that James was born."
Harry looked puzzled. "My father was born after my grandfather was retired? How old was he when he retired?"
"I'm not sure exactly how old he and your grandmother Euphemia were when they got James, but I'd guess they were both around 60? As far as James knew, they had been trying for decades. He was quite the "miracle" as Euphemia used to say, which was something he was very fond to remind us of." Remus told Harry with a fond smile.
Harry smiled back, that did seem like something his father would say, as far as he knew him. "Did they also die during the first war?" Harry asked curiously.
Remus sighed. "Yes, but they both died of Dragon Pox, a few days apart, in 1979. They did attend your parents' wedding, but they didn't live to hear about Lily being pregnant," he said sadly. "But, to get back to the subject of the Potter estate, Fleamont sold Sleekeazy but retained a percentage in stocks. That I know for sure, but I think James also said that the Potters created early versions of Skele-Gro and Pepper-up Potion, which probably also contributed quite a bit of wealth."
"So the Potter estate consists of money and stocks in Sleekeazy." Harry summarized. He was amazed at his family's involvement in potions that were still used so often.
"Yes," Remus confirmed. "but you also inherited Potter Manor and the cottage in Godric's Hollow, where you lived with your parents. And the Invisibility cloak, of course"
"I own a manor?" Harry asked, swallowing slowly. He supposed he shouldn't be that surprised. He had seen the difference between his own vault and the Weasley vault. It bothered him, however, that he never had thought to research the Potter family history.
"Thank you for telling me all this," he said sincerely. "How come I didn't know about this before, though?"
"The Black family inheritance issues I mentioned meant we had to talk inheritance anyway, so it made sense to do it now. The Order also had to vacate Headquarters until the inheritance issues are solved. And while the Potter family was never as, err, well as Sirius would say, as 'batshit crazy' as the Black family, there will still be some ancient protective spells and wards on the property. So, we might have to ask if you're willing to offer the manor as a base of operations for the Order. But that's a question for the future. You've seen what can happen to a magical home if it's uninhabited for a long time, and that was with a house-elf present. Potter Manor has been abandoned since 1980 and both your parents and grandparents did not have a house elf. It's hard to say which state the Manor is in. Professor Dumbledore said he was going to take you there sometime this summer, to see whether it could possibly be used as a headquarter and to update the wards and protective enchantments."
"You want to use Potter Manor as headquarters for Order?" Harry asked unbelievingly and a bit angrily. "I'm not even allowed to be a member, but you count on me to provide a headquarters?" he demanded.
"Well er, yes, I understand your … your frustration," Remus answered uneasily. "I pointed that out to Professor Dumbledore, but I'm not sure whether he plans to heed my advice on it."
"He'd better just come out and ask me, I'm not in the mood to deal with people keeping any more secrets from me," Harry said curtly. His scowl lessened what and he attempted a smile. "That's why I'm thankful that you told me all this about my family, it's given me a lot to think about!"
Remus stood up, as did Harry. "It was my pleasure Harry, it's what I am here at the Burrow, after all, to talk with you and help you." They walked back to the house in slightly better spirits. The conversation with Remus had given Harry plenty of distraction for the coming days.
-In Her Memory-
When Harry woke up the next Saturday, he decided that he would tell Ron about the Potter estate this day. He had wanted to talk with him about it for the last couple of days, but he had not yet had a real conversation with him since he had been here. Without Hermione, they had to find a way to re-establish their relationship as a duo, rather than two parts of a trio. However, to do that they would need to discuss her first, which he still didn't feel up for and he wasn't quite sure if Ron was up for it. He moved downstairs to join the family for breakfast. Ron was already up, as he had kept up his new habit of rising early.
He entered the kitchen to a chorus of "good mornings." He took place beside Ginny and across from Ron, who was currently feasting on a plate of bacon. Mrs Weasley handed him a glass of pumpkin juice and he got himself some breakfast.
After a couple of minutes of small talk during which Remus joined the group, Harry looked up at Ron to get his attention. "Hey, Ron I need to talk to you about some-."
He was interrupted by a small, squeaking gasp from Ron, who was looking out the window. Harry followed his gaze and saw Fleur coming back from a morning walk. Fleur had been staying at the Burrow so she could get to know Bill's family better, to the chagrin of both Ginny and Mrs Weasley. Harry understood that Fleur was exceptionally beautiful, but Ron's reaction irked him nonetheless. He wasn't the only one who was annoyed.
"Really, Ron. Don't be pathetic!" Ginny grumbled. "She isn't that pretty"
Ron merely shook his head and pointed out the window, as Fleur came in. His eyes had become slightly watery. "I'm not talking about Fleur," he said. Harry could see two owls flying towards the kitchen window.
"The O.W.L. results are here."