Disclaimer: Different story, same characters. Still not mine.
Sparks, Harriet, Kattis_black, Nicky (as always), Lady Foxfire, Kate the Great, malexandria, Sou, Anie, velondra, -_-, Hyper Princess, lothey, Phoenix, and Japangirlcarley24: Thank you so much for your kind reviews!!! Hope you enjoy!
Endriago Luna: Not sure about pairings, or even if I'll go there with this story. Harry's got far too much on his plate at the moment. But I might, if the characters insist.
Tanya: You'll find out more about the significance of these dreams in future chapters. They're definitely not precognitive, but you'll see why they're important. Besides, at the moment only the Dreamless Sleep Potion keeps them at bay for Harry, and there are complications using it.
venus4280: You'll be definitely getting more dream content in upcoming chapters, but it won't be pretty!
Chapter 11
Harry tried to stand up, to walk to the dining table to join the Weasleys for breakfast. Sirius stood at Harry's side as he tentatively pushed himself off the couch, not quite helping him. Sirius instinctively seemed to recognize Harry's need to determine if he could stand or not. Weakly, Harry stood up, his legs wobbling horribly. Hermione and Ron's eyes were worried, but thankfully they didn't say anything. Harry hovered for a moment between sitting and standing, almost thinking he'd made it, when the world tilted crazily and Harry lost all sense of where he was. He knew he was falling.
"I've got you," Sirius whispered in his ear, and strong arms closed around his shivering body as the world reoriented itself. Harry closed his eyes for a second in frustration. So this was it. He no longer could even stand on his own. His eyes were bleak as they looked at Sirius. He held Harry close, his face showing so many expressions at once it was hard to trace them all. Concern, love, worry, helplessness…
"Are you hungry?" Ron asked Harry as the tense silence began to grow. Harry nodded, which caused Sirius to break out into a huge smile. Harry frowned. There was something sinister about that smile.
"Really? You're hungry?" Sirius asked, and to Harry's surprise, he really was.
"Excellent!" Ron said with a bright smile. Hermione was smiling as well. Automatically, she reached down and grabbed the duvet Harry had been wrapped in on the couch and threw it over him.
'Face it, Harry,' he thought miserably as he watched Hermione's tender gesture, 'How will you be able to get to class? There's no way you'll be able to go to Hogwarts like this. Not with the trick staircases, and classes ranging from the dungeons to the Astronomy Tower.' Not if he couldn't even stand.
Harry smiled at Hermione sadly as she tucked the duvet around him, realizing this might be the last time he saw her this year at all. Or Ron. Where could he go now? How would he be able to learn to fight Voldemort? Where would he stay? Surely, he couldn't continue to stay with the Weasleys indefinitely, until he either got better or…
Abruptly, Harry cut off that line of thought before it got too far ahead of him. He'd face it later. Right now he was going to enjoy his birthday. Harry caught Remus looking at him intently for a moment. He'd seen the expression on Harry's face. Harry smiled tentatively at him.
'Quit noticing things, Professor,' Harry thought quietly. Remus was far too observant.
Sirius carried Harry over to the table and settled him in an enormous chair he'd dragged from the living room. Harry stifled a sigh, knowing Sirius' concern was legitimate. The table's simple wooden chairs with homemade seat cushions in brick red, bright green and blue, and more varieties of plaid than Harry even knew existed, were thin and wobbly. He knew if he tried to sit on those and his tremors got too bad, he might just fall out of the bloody thing completely.
"When's Ginny coming back?" Ron asked as he settled across the table from Harry. Plates and bowls of food were floating in from the kitchen and settled on the table. Glasses of orange juice and tea followed, which Fred and George had to duck to avoid as they seated themselves next to Hermione. Sirius sat next to Harry and across from Ron.
"I think she's coming after breakfast," George answered, already grabbing the bowl of eggs and placing a hearty amount on his own plate. Ron nodded and looked up as Mrs. Weasley entered the dining room, satisfied enough with preparations to join her family at the table.
"Where's dad?" Fred asked, curiously through a mouthful of food.
"He already left for work," Mrs. Weasley said grimly. All movement at the table ceased for a moment, as all eyes looked towards her. Remus looked at Sirius, and Ron, Hermione and Harry all exchanged worried expressions, but Mrs. Weasley refused to elaborate. "He'll be home this evening," she said. "Eat!"
Sirius piled Harry's plate with eggs, bacon and pancakes. Harry weakly reached out to drink his orange juice and frowned in concentration as he willed his grip not to fail. The glass rattled against his teeth as he drank and he realized that once again everyone had stopped eating. Harry drank the juice eagerly, relishing the coolness against his throat, and gingerly set the glass back down on the edge.
'Don't fall,' he willed it. Thankfully, it didn't. Looking up, noises abruptly began again as everyone pretended not to have watched him. Harry sighed.
"Pass the bangers?" Fred asked, small bits of food still evident in his mouth. Hermione gave him a disgusted look as she reached for the sausages.
"Please," Mrs. Weasley corrected sternly. "And don't speak with your mouth full."
"Please?" Fred asked, giving Hermione a sad face. She rolled her eyes at him and reached out for the plate…
"No, I've got it," Sirius said with a smile, snatching the plate from in front of Hermione and handing it to Fred. Fred took the dish from Sirius with wide eyes. Harry watched as Fred and George exchanged a fearful look. Sirius smiled innocently at them. "Here you go," he said politely.
"Thanks," Fred nearly coughed, and Harry couldn't help but grin at the nervousness on his face.
Harry idly began to eat his food as he watched Fred tentatively put a sausage on his plate.
"You want any?" Fred offered to George. George shook his head vehemently.
"No thanks," George said, recoiling from the plate. Mrs. Weasley watched the interplay with a frown.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked the twins. Both boys shook their heads and quickly picked up their forks, diving in to their food so as not to offend their mother.
Harry watched as they now ate in silence, surreptitiously shooting glances at Sirius who was praising Mrs. Weasley's food to the sky. Hermione was turning red with the effort not to laugh, and everyone watched as Fred cleaned his plate of everything but the sausage. He reached out to dish more eggs on his plate when Mrs. Weasley stopped him.
"Clean your plate before seconds," she said sternly.
"Actually, I think I'm full," Fred said, leaning back and patting his belly dramatically.
"Then split it with your brother," Mrs. Weasley said firmly. Harry shot her a quick glance of surprise and recognized the glee he saw there. She knew! George choked on his food.
"Mum, I'm full, too," George protested. Sirius continued to smile dangerously, and Remus now had to cough a couple of times to hide his laughter.
"You didn't have any bangers, George Weasley. I thought you liked them? Well, even if you've changed your mind," she said matter-of-factly, "You know the rules. You don't have to eat a lot, but you have to try everything," she said firmly. Fred was already eagerly cutting his sausage in half and placing it on George's plate. George looked at it like it was going to run up and bite him at any moment.
Harry welcomed the bubble of laughter threatening to break Mrs. Weasley's terrific act. It felt good to want to giggle, and a part of him was quietly amazed at how alien it felt to be happy; to be having a good time. Sirius saw Harry struggling not to laugh and widened his eyes at his godson mischievously. Everyone else at the table had given up eating. They were waiting on the twins in eager anticipation.
Fred slowly cut his sausage into tiny bites, and after watching George do the same, placed his fork in a sliver and brought it up to his mouth, tentatively. He sniffed at it, and in unspoken agreement, both twins ate a bite at the same time.
The table was silent, waiting to see what happened next. Fred and George stared at each other, then at Sirius.
"Well?" Fred asked.
"I don't feel anything," George said with relief dawning on their face. Smiling, they ate a few more bites under Mrs. Weasley's stern gaze.
"It's great, mum," Fred said. George nodded. Sirius stretched his arms up and yawned innocently, causing dual glares of irritation to be cast his way. Harry was beginning to wonder if this had been another decoy as well, when the table in front of him jolted abruptly. Sirius caught his and Harry's drinks before they spilled, clearly prepared. Chairs clattered to the floor as Harry tried to see the twins. Frowning, he stretched to look over the table to the fallen chairs, but didn't see them.
"Cor blimey!" a voice called from above Harry's head. Harry looked up, startled, and realized both twins hadn't fallen down, they'd fallen up. They were lying on the ceiling, staring at Sirius in disgust.
"Fred Weasley! Language!" Mrs. Weasley said sternly, but then ruined the effect by snickering.
"Are you thirsty?" Sirius asked innocently, standing up with Fred's orange juice in his hand and reaching above his head with it. Remus spluttered into his own drink, spraying it everywhere. Ron joined him, now laughing so hard he was crying. Sirius sat back down with a shrug at his *kind* gesture, placing the glass back on the table.
Harry watched as the twins scowled in unison and made to stand up. As legs untangled and they stood up *down*, their dressing gown fell over their heads, exposing a matching set of fuchsia pajamas. Harry's face hurt from smiling now. Sirius was definitely living up to the legends.
"Come on, Fred, I can see we're not wanted here," George scowled with wounded pride. Fred pressed his dressing gown down to keep it from falling in his face and walked towards the stairwell to head upstairs. When they reached the stairs they paused, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"I think today's not a good idea to go outside," Sirius suggested helpfully. Hermione was now giggling hysterically, and Ron snorted.
"Did I just do that?" Ron asked between laughs, then snorted again. Hermione was clutching her side now, and Fred and George realized that going upstairs upside down was harder than it looked. Grabbing a hold of the railing, George flipped over the side of the stairwell, his legs sticking up as his robe fell in his face. Spluttering, he let himself drop on the upstairs ceiling with a resounding *thud*. Fred followed suit a little more gracefully, and they retreated to their room.
"How long will that last?" Mrs. Weasley asked, laughing herself.
"It should wear off by this evening," Sirius replied. Thumps could be heard upstairs.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron said as he got control of himself again.
"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley corrected sternly.
"Sorry, mum," Ron said automatically, not contrite in the least.
"Wait till they have to use the loo," Sirius said, and Harry cracked up completely, joining Ron and Hermione's chorus of hoots and howls.
Sparks, Harriet, Kattis_black, Nicky (as always), Lady Foxfire, Kate the Great, malexandria, Sou, Anie, velondra, -_-, Hyper Princess, lothey, Phoenix, and Japangirlcarley24: Thank you so much for your kind reviews!!! Hope you enjoy!
Endriago Luna: Not sure about pairings, or even if I'll go there with this story. Harry's got far too much on his plate at the moment. But I might, if the characters insist.
Tanya: You'll find out more about the significance of these dreams in future chapters. They're definitely not precognitive, but you'll see why they're important. Besides, at the moment only the Dreamless Sleep Potion keeps them at bay for Harry, and there are complications using it.
venus4280: You'll be definitely getting more dream content in upcoming chapters, but it won't be pretty!
Chapter 11
Harry tried to stand up, to walk to the dining table to join the Weasleys for breakfast. Sirius stood at Harry's side as he tentatively pushed himself off the couch, not quite helping him. Sirius instinctively seemed to recognize Harry's need to determine if he could stand or not. Weakly, Harry stood up, his legs wobbling horribly. Hermione and Ron's eyes were worried, but thankfully they didn't say anything. Harry hovered for a moment between sitting and standing, almost thinking he'd made it, when the world tilted crazily and Harry lost all sense of where he was. He knew he was falling.
"I've got you," Sirius whispered in his ear, and strong arms closed around his shivering body as the world reoriented itself. Harry closed his eyes for a second in frustration. So this was it. He no longer could even stand on his own. His eyes were bleak as they looked at Sirius. He held Harry close, his face showing so many expressions at once it was hard to trace them all. Concern, love, worry, helplessness…
"Are you hungry?" Ron asked Harry as the tense silence began to grow. Harry nodded, which caused Sirius to break out into a huge smile. Harry frowned. There was something sinister about that smile.
"Really? You're hungry?" Sirius asked, and to Harry's surprise, he really was.
"Excellent!" Ron said with a bright smile. Hermione was smiling as well. Automatically, she reached down and grabbed the duvet Harry had been wrapped in on the couch and threw it over him.
'Face it, Harry,' he thought miserably as he watched Hermione's tender gesture, 'How will you be able to get to class? There's no way you'll be able to go to Hogwarts like this. Not with the trick staircases, and classes ranging from the dungeons to the Astronomy Tower.' Not if he couldn't even stand.
Harry smiled at Hermione sadly as she tucked the duvet around him, realizing this might be the last time he saw her this year at all. Or Ron. Where could he go now? How would he be able to learn to fight Voldemort? Where would he stay? Surely, he couldn't continue to stay with the Weasleys indefinitely, until he either got better or…
Abruptly, Harry cut off that line of thought before it got too far ahead of him. He'd face it later. Right now he was going to enjoy his birthday. Harry caught Remus looking at him intently for a moment. He'd seen the expression on Harry's face. Harry smiled tentatively at him.
'Quit noticing things, Professor,' Harry thought quietly. Remus was far too observant.
Sirius carried Harry over to the table and settled him in an enormous chair he'd dragged from the living room. Harry stifled a sigh, knowing Sirius' concern was legitimate. The table's simple wooden chairs with homemade seat cushions in brick red, bright green and blue, and more varieties of plaid than Harry even knew existed, were thin and wobbly. He knew if he tried to sit on those and his tremors got too bad, he might just fall out of the bloody thing completely.
"When's Ginny coming back?" Ron asked as he settled across the table from Harry. Plates and bowls of food were floating in from the kitchen and settled on the table. Glasses of orange juice and tea followed, which Fred and George had to duck to avoid as they seated themselves next to Hermione. Sirius sat next to Harry and across from Ron.
"I think she's coming after breakfast," George answered, already grabbing the bowl of eggs and placing a hearty amount on his own plate. Ron nodded and looked up as Mrs. Weasley entered the dining room, satisfied enough with preparations to join her family at the table.
"Where's dad?" Fred asked, curiously through a mouthful of food.
"He already left for work," Mrs. Weasley said grimly. All movement at the table ceased for a moment, as all eyes looked towards her. Remus looked at Sirius, and Ron, Hermione and Harry all exchanged worried expressions, but Mrs. Weasley refused to elaborate. "He'll be home this evening," she said. "Eat!"
Sirius piled Harry's plate with eggs, bacon and pancakes. Harry weakly reached out to drink his orange juice and frowned in concentration as he willed his grip not to fail. The glass rattled against his teeth as he drank and he realized that once again everyone had stopped eating. Harry drank the juice eagerly, relishing the coolness against his throat, and gingerly set the glass back down on the edge.
'Don't fall,' he willed it. Thankfully, it didn't. Looking up, noises abruptly began again as everyone pretended not to have watched him. Harry sighed.
"Pass the bangers?" Fred asked, small bits of food still evident in his mouth. Hermione gave him a disgusted look as she reached for the sausages.
"Please," Mrs. Weasley corrected sternly. "And don't speak with your mouth full."
"Please?" Fred asked, giving Hermione a sad face. She rolled her eyes at him and reached out for the plate…
"No, I've got it," Sirius said with a smile, snatching the plate from in front of Hermione and handing it to Fred. Fred took the dish from Sirius with wide eyes. Harry watched as Fred and George exchanged a fearful look. Sirius smiled innocently at them. "Here you go," he said politely.
"Thanks," Fred nearly coughed, and Harry couldn't help but grin at the nervousness on his face.
Harry idly began to eat his food as he watched Fred tentatively put a sausage on his plate.
"You want any?" Fred offered to George. George shook his head vehemently.
"No thanks," George said, recoiling from the plate. Mrs. Weasley watched the interplay with a frown.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked the twins. Both boys shook their heads and quickly picked up their forks, diving in to their food so as not to offend their mother.
Harry watched as they now ate in silence, surreptitiously shooting glances at Sirius who was praising Mrs. Weasley's food to the sky. Hermione was turning red with the effort not to laugh, and everyone watched as Fred cleaned his plate of everything but the sausage. He reached out to dish more eggs on his plate when Mrs. Weasley stopped him.
"Clean your plate before seconds," she said sternly.
"Actually, I think I'm full," Fred said, leaning back and patting his belly dramatically.
"Then split it with your brother," Mrs. Weasley said firmly. Harry shot her a quick glance of surprise and recognized the glee he saw there. She knew! George choked on his food.
"Mum, I'm full, too," George protested. Sirius continued to smile dangerously, and Remus now had to cough a couple of times to hide his laughter.
"You didn't have any bangers, George Weasley. I thought you liked them? Well, even if you've changed your mind," she said matter-of-factly, "You know the rules. You don't have to eat a lot, but you have to try everything," she said firmly. Fred was already eagerly cutting his sausage in half and placing it on George's plate. George looked at it like it was going to run up and bite him at any moment.
Harry welcomed the bubble of laughter threatening to break Mrs. Weasley's terrific act. It felt good to want to giggle, and a part of him was quietly amazed at how alien it felt to be happy; to be having a good time. Sirius saw Harry struggling not to laugh and widened his eyes at his godson mischievously. Everyone else at the table had given up eating. They were waiting on the twins in eager anticipation.
Fred slowly cut his sausage into tiny bites, and after watching George do the same, placed his fork in a sliver and brought it up to his mouth, tentatively. He sniffed at it, and in unspoken agreement, both twins ate a bite at the same time.
The table was silent, waiting to see what happened next. Fred and George stared at each other, then at Sirius.
"Well?" Fred asked.
"I don't feel anything," George said with relief dawning on their face. Smiling, they ate a few more bites under Mrs. Weasley's stern gaze.
"It's great, mum," Fred said. George nodded. Sirius stretched his arms up and yawned innocently, causing dual glares of irritation to be cast his way. Harry was beginning to wonder if this had been another decoy as well, when the table in front of him jolted abruptly. Sirius caught his and Harry's drinks before they spilled, clearly prepared. Chairs clattered to the floor as Harry tried to see the twins. Frowning, he stretched to look over the table to the fallen chairs, but didn't see them.
"Cor blimey!" a voice called from above Harry's head. Harry looked up, startled, and realized both twins hadn't fallen down, they'd fallen up. They were lying on the ceiling, staring at Sirius in disgust.
"Fred Weasley! Language!" Mrs. Weasley said sternly, but then ruined the effect by snickering.
"Are you thirsty?" Sirius asked innocently, standing up with Fred's orange juice in his hand and reaching above his head with it. Remus spluttered into his own drink, spraying it everywhere. Ron joined him, now laughing so hard he was crying. Sirius sat back down with a shrug at his *kind* gesture, placing the glass back on the table.
Harry watched as the twins scowled in unison and made to stand up. As legs untangled and they stood up *down*, their dressing gown fell over their heads, exposing a matching set of fuchsia pajamas. Harry's face hurt from smiling now. Sirius was definitely living up to the legends.
"Come on, Fred, I can see we're not wanted here," George scowled with wounded pride. Fred pressed his dressing gown down to keep it from falling in his face and walked towards the stairwell to head upstairs. When they reached the stairs they paused, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"I think today's not a good idea to go outside," Sirius suggested helpfully. Hermione was now giggling hysterically, and Ron snorted.
"Did I just do that?" Ron asked between laughs, then snorted again. Hermione was clutching her side now, and Fred and George realized that going upstairs upside down was harder than it looked. Grabbing a hold of the railing, George flipped over the side of the stairwell, his legs sticking up as his robe fell in his face. Spluttering, he let himself drop on the upstairs ceiling with a resounding *thud*. Fred followed suit a little more gracefully, and they retreated to their room.
"How long will that last?" Mrs. Weasley asked, laughing herself.
"It should wear off by this evening," Sirius replied. Thumps could be heard upstairs.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron said as he got control of himself again.
"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley corrected sternly.
"Sorry, mum," Ron said automatically, not contrite in the least.
"Wait till they have to use the loo," Sirius said, and Harry cracked up completely, joining Ron and Hermione's chorus of hoots and howls.