Harry Potter and the Brethren of Ares
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
By: Merusa
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 1: The Boy Who Knew Too Much
"'A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you.' said Lupin, as though he'd read Harry's mind; the corners of his mouth twitched slightly."
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, American Version, pg 50, Chapter 3: The Advance Guard
Ron stood quietly, motionless, off in the corner of the kitchen, watching. Hermione was exchanging a tearful good-bye with her parents, and he didn't want her to notice him there.
She would want to talk about last June, he knew that she would. She'd want to be scientific and analyze it- he knew her.
He didn't even want to think about it.
He hated this place. Sirius's house.The wonderful man himself had passed away, but it was still his house. It would always be like that to Ron. Calling it Grimmauld Place made it seem all the worse, even with the removal of the House Elves' heads and Mrs. Black's portrait finally being detached from the wall along with her son's death.
It was lucky, he reflected, that Harry didn't have to come back to this hellhole. Ron's mum and Remus Lupin were working themselves to the point of exhaustion to make the Burrow safe, once again, for all of them to go back to- including Harry. All the Weasleys still living at home had been forced to relocate to Grimmauld Place that summer, but soon, they could return home.
Without him realizing it, Hermione's parents had left. The brunette walked up to him, pushing tears away from her eyes. Wordlessly, she slipped her arms around his waist. He hugged her back immediately. Their hugs, while occasionally awkward, had always felt right, and they knew it- however, neither of them examined it or pushed for anything more. There would be time for that later, after You-Know-Who was gone.
Ron felt Hermione wince when his arms unconsciously tightened. He let go of her immediately. "I'm sorry," he muttered, feeling stupid.
"It's okay." She appeared to be fighting tears. "It's just that- well- I'm still taking medicinal potions, and there are effects. You know, from- from last June." Her mind was racing, he could tell.
He nodded, not needing her to say anymore. "That's me as well. I've got one for my arms."
She nodded, and picked up her carpetbag. It was lumpy from the shapes of all the books it contained.
He picked up her small trunk with ease. Silently, they ascended the stairs and entered the room she shared with Ginny. He put her trunk down and crossed his arms awkwardly, pushing up his sleeves without thinking about it.
"Oh, Ron..." Hermione reached forward and gingerly touched one of the puckered burn marks. The brains had left scars. "Does it hurt?"
He gave a false, bitter laugh. "It's nothing compared to what-" he stopped himself. He didn't want to talk about this.
She finally looked him firmly in the eye. "Compared to what, Ron?" Her tone left no room for argument,
He blurted it out- he'd been thinking it for so long know that to let it out was necessary. "Compared to Harry! Bloody hell, Hermione, at least we have each other, but he's sitting in that freaking muggle house, all alone! His godfather died, who knows how he's going to react? How are supposed to help him? What if he's just like he was last year-"
"-or what if he shuts off all emotion completely?"
He stared at her for a moment before answering. "Yeah, he could do that."
She wrapped her arms around herself. He'd never seen her looking so vulnerable. This wasn't a problem she could solve with her books. She shook her head, as if trying to clear it. "Ron, I'm so scared-"
Without hesitation, he pulled her into another hug. Though holding her made everything seem a little bit better, Ron was still keenly aware of the fact that everything in the world- especially that of his best friend- was quite far from alright.
Dear Remus,
Yea, I really miss everyone, too. Give my best to the rest of the Advance Guard. Moony, why are you avoiding questions as to your own well-being? Yes, I am imitating your choice of words in your last letter.
As far as summers go, this one's better than usual. No, really, it is. The Dursleys are pretending I don't exist most of the time, and even when they do notice that I'm here, it's to tell me to do the gardening or get Dudley more ice cream or rubbish like that.
I'm fine, Moony- really.
-Harry James Potter
Heir of the Marauders
The Boy-Who-Lived sighed as he tucked the letter to his former professor into an envelope. Hedwig, as if sensing his unhappiness, rubbed her head against his hand with a soft hoot. Harry didn't even smile, but stroked the owl's white plumage and tied the letter to her leg. "Hey, girl. Up to taking this to Remus?"
Hedwig nibbled on his finger affectionately with another soft, reassuring hoot before taking flight out the window.
Harry gave another heavy sigh as the only friend he had at Privet Drive took off into the darkness. He couldn't help but scowl slightly after her. She always took forever to come back; Harry had long since figured out that Dumbledore filtered his mail for anything dangerous. He wondered if Remus ever got his letters in their original state.
Bored, and far from sleep, the Boy-Who-Lived reached for his photo album and flicked it open.
Harry Potter had made a decision.
He found it almost ridiculously easy to make. He was sick of people always asking after him, people wondering about him, and people cutting in to his business. So, he decided something.
He wouldn't give them any reason to worry.
It was very simple, really. He'd act okay. He'd be the most okay bloke at Hogwarts. He'd suppress unhappy emotion and not think about it. His life couldn't get any worse, after all. Best to just ignore it.
Denial, Harry decided, was the best medicine.
"Harry? Are you alright"
Harry's head snapped up. A small grin tugged at his mouth, although his eyes were far from smiling- for Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, and a women Harry couldn't place were standing in front of 4 Privet Drive. Remus, who had spoken, smiled softly, but his eyes remained worried. His hair had grayed further and the bags under his eyes were more pronounced than ever.
Harry stood up. "I'm ok."
Remus smiled and stepped forward, ruffling Harry's hair affectionately. "Of course you are. My young Marauder, we're here to take you out to dinner."
There was a rough snort from behind Remus.
Moony grinned, and turned around. "You remember our beloved, soft, gentle, compassionate Mad-Eye?"
Harry nodded slightly, shaking his and Kinsley's hands. Tonks pulled him into a quick hug, winking. "Wotcher, Harry!"
"And, this is Adrienne Zende, the newest member of our exclusive group."
The slightly plump but pretty brunette happily shook Harry's hand. Harry managed to keep up his smile, even though he knew that Adrienne had replaced Sirius.
Harry turned back to Remus, who was rocking back and forth anxiously. He blinked. Remus was acting.......odd.
"Remus?"
"Yes, my dear boy?"
"Are you pissed?"
"Not at all." Adrienne giggled. "Remus, calm yourself." Her soft alto sounded slightly familiar to Harry.
"Harry, Adrienne is our...er...friend at the ministry. Just in case we, er, need to plan a...uhm...picnic with Fudge!"
Harry's grin widened slightly at Tonks' attempt at tact, but then he jumped a bit as Tonks added in his ear. "Remus appears to have quite the crush. 'Opposites Attract' isn't a joke after all- that girl is clumsier than I am and talks faster than a headless chicken runs. We have a betting pool on when he asks her out....owl me if you want to join in, Savvy?"
Tonks, whose hair was currently a nice royal purple, grinned as Harry snorted back a laugh.
Harry pushed all his thoughts and worries away. He could worry about Voldemort later- now was the time to thoroughly but subtly berate Remus about Adrienne.
He didn't even notice Tonks' look of jealousy when she saw the new guard.
After a wild dinner which included scaring the life out of a muggle waitress who saw Tonks's hair change colors, Remus and Harry managed to convince the rest of the group to let them walk back to Privet Drive alone. Of course, this involved stealing Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye with a summoning charm and not giving it back until the old auror gave in, but that was Moody's problem. In Harry's opinion, if the man was so paranoid, he deserved to have a reason for it.
As soon as the others walked away, Harry noticed that something seemed to take over his former professor. His shoulders slumped slightly, the soft smile that seemed fixed to his face vanished, and his eyes somehow became even more exhausted looking.
Remus looked down at the ground. "As you can probably see now, I am not as alright as I am pretending to be, Harry."
Harry looked down as well; there was a crack in the asphalt that was incredibly interesting. "Remus..."
Boy, that crack was intriguing. "Yes, Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "Dunno." It was the truth; he wasn't quite sure what to say.
Remus let out a heavy sigh, and began to walk. Harry followed reluctantly. Remus seemed to be heavily considering his words; it was about a minute before he spoke. "Harry, before Sirius's death-" Harry suppressed a flinch, "-we had a conversation. We were both aware that the coming war would not be easy, and that it was very likely we wouldn't both survive. This wasn't as frightening as the thought of what would happen to you without a true link to your parents."
Harry blinked. He had an idea about where this was going...
"Sirius strongly believed that he would never be free, no matter what I told him. He would also do anything for you, Harry. And so, we made a pact. If one of us...passed on..." For the first time, Remus faltered. He cleared his throat, and then continued. "Then the other would see to you. The one left would, I suppose, live for the Marauders, live with their spirits around him, taking care of you, our heir, the Heart of the Marauders' son, but taking care of ourselves, as well. I'm the Last Marauder, Harry. That is not something I take lightly."
Harry remained silent.
"What I'm saying, I suppose, is that I know for a fact that Sirius would tell me to get off my lazy arse and stop sulking. Your well-being is one of my priorities, Harry, and I can't help you if I can't help myself."
Harry understood. He didn't say anything, though, but simply walked on with another father; the third of three.